Cultural Literature

In her "eminently readable memoir about turning darkness back into light" (People), the nationally bestselling author of Good Hair candidly shares her journey from having it all to plunging into a deep depression after her beloved mother's death--and...

The half-century before the Civil War was beset with conflict over equality as well as freedom. Beginning in 1803, many free states enacted laws that discouraged free African Americans from settling within their boundaries and restricted their rights to...

(Artist Transcriptions). Another folio of spectacular improvisations by one of the great piano masters of the century. Includes: All the Things You Are * Caravan * Cherokee (Indian Love Song) * In a Sentimental Mood * Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All...

Seven Grains of Paradise tells the fascinating and much neglected story about many kinds of food in Africa, a continent with a rich farming tradition, intricate cuisines, and a multitude of food cultures.Centuries of disparaging judgements and a...

I take Liberties--poetic--and take License to relate her story In her voice, to tell History Who she was--as I hear her say Or sing. [...] But still you will come face-to-face With a Portia, whose life outshines All brilliance this black ink...

With decades of research to draw from, Philip Jowett explores this extraordinary David-and-Goliath conflict, where the rag-tag Igbo tribal army of secessionist Biafra faced off against the Nigerian Federal forces. It was an African war that captured the...

To celebrate the acquisition of the archive of distinguished artist Tom Phillips, the Bodleian Library asked the artist to assemble and design a series of books drawing on his themed collection of over 50,000 photographic postcards. These encompass the...

Minute-by-minute account of the offensiveCovers both the British attackers and the German defendersExplains how and why the assault failed so badlyIn the late summer of 1942, Rommel's Afrika Korps stood perilously close to breaking through to Cairo and...

We can heal our communities--one friendship at a time.Many of us want to do something to improve race relations, but we don't know where to start or even if we can make a difference. In Life-Changing Cross-Cultural Friendships, beloved authors and good...

Told from an ordinary man's perspective, these are the journal and letters of Wilhelm Weike as he accompanied Franz Boas--the father of modern anthropology--on his journey to the arctic from 1883 to 1884. This extraordinary document of early arctic...

(Transcribed Score). Charles Mingus was a pioneer figure in modern jazz. Besides being a virtuoso bass player who played with the top jazz musicians for four decades, he was also an accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer who recorded more than 100...

What is slavery? What does it mean to be a slave? Why does slavery exist today and why did it exist in the past? What can be done to end it? These are important questions, and this book aims to answers them. Across the world today, more than 40 million...

The story of bluesman Robert Johnson and his deal with the Devil at the crossroads is one of the core myths at the heart of both blues and rock 'n' roll. In A Meeting At The Crossroads, Matt Frederick explores the history and meaning of the myth, from...

In A Continent for the Taking Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa's most devastating recent history-from the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, to Charles Taylor's arrival in...

Tracing the careers of hip-hop's three most dynamic stars, this deeply reported history brilliantly examines the entrepreneurial genius of the first musician tycoons: Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-ZBeing successful musicians was simply never enough for the...

A compelling autobiography from one of Detroit's favorite sons At 15, Willie Horton received his first contract offer to become a professional baseball player. At 20, he smacked his first major-league home run. At 24, Horton stood in full uniform on the...