Cultural Literature

A New York Times bestselling author's gripping account of a Chicago community coming together to save a group of teenagers from gun violence.In the tradition of works like Random Family and Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Sudhir Venkatesh's The Tomorrow...

A George Washington Carver Handbook is a chronological account of the life and works of the famous inventor. Edited by Dr. B. D. Mayberry, this book includes a brief biography of George Washington Carver, tributes to Carter by state governments and...

Racial identity, pop culture, and delusions of perfection collide in an eye-opening and refreshingly frank memoir by fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod.Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity...

Based on police wiretaps and exclusive interviews with drug kingpins and hip-hop insiders, this is the untold story of how the streets and housing projects of southeast Queens took over the rap industry.For years, rappers from Nas to Ja Rule have...

Essential reading on segregation now in paperback! "Medley deftly puts in colorful context the U.S. Supreme Court's signal 1896 decision sanctioning so-called separate but equal facilities. . . . Rich in family and community history and local lore,...

Horace Patterson's story follows his metamorphosis from baseball-playing youth to politically active and socially aware black minister. In this book of hope for the future, Patterson chronicles his escape from the cycle of poverty and violence through...

An essential story of understated courage, the lasting power of a name, and the battle to honor a pioneering legacy. On the eve of his second varsity football game for the Iowa State Cyclones, Jack Trice wrote in a letter, "The honor of my race, family...

At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the U.S. State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched its finest jazz musicians to the far corners...

Credible and important.--Kirkus Reviews Examining the issues that have united Blacks and Jews in the past and now separate them, two long-time friends and leading intellectuals try to restore the special relationship between the two groups in a...

Nineteenth-century stoneware by enslaved and free potters living in Edgefield, South Carolina, highlights the central role of Black artists in the region's long-standing pottery traditions This in-depth look at the remarkable alkaline-glazed stoneware...

Condoleezza Rice, one of the most powerful and controversial women in the world, has until now remained a mystery behind an elegant, cool veneer. New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller peels back the layers and presents a revelatory portrait of the...

Anniston, Alabama, is a small industrial city between Birmingham and Atlanta. In 1961, the city's potential for race-related violence was graphically revealed when the Ku Klux Klan firebombed a Freedom Riders bus. In response to that incident a few black...

A first-hand account of Angola's civil war.

A Quick Ting On: Grime Music is a brilliant look at the history, the present and the future of Grime Music. Franklyn Addo writes beautifully about this musical juggernaut that has taken over the UK in recent years.From the Bow estates to the charts, Addo...

Lawrence Campbell was an eyewitness who participated in a massive struggle to attain equality and justice nationwide and in Danville, Virginia in 1963. The year 1963 was a monumental year and a turning point in civil rights history. What transpired in...

Acasia Olson's The Book of Jo is the story of transgenerational trauma and the journey towards healing. At the center is Jo, a precocious little girl, adopted at infancy, into the loving arms of Opal, a God-fearing, older Black woman who can't have...