Biography

With striking photographs and personal insight, a compelling biography of the great American saxophonist and free jazz innovator Ornette Coleman. Ornette Coleman's career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in...

In this provocative study, Stephen Howe traces the sources and ancestries of the Afrocentric movement, and closely analyses the writings of its leading proponents. Hard-hitting yet subtle and scholarly in its appraisal of Afrocentric ideas, and based on...

Over one dramatic decade, a trio of Trenchtown R&B crooners swapped their 1960s Brylcreem hairdos and two-tone suits for 1970s battle fatigues and dreadlocks to become the Wailers--one of the most influential groups in popular music. Colin Grant presents...

In the tradition of The Other Wes Moore and Just Mercy, a searing memoir and clarion call to save our at-risk youth by a young black man who himself was a lost cause--until he landed in a rehabilitation program that saved his life and gave him purpose...

A gripping and unforgettable true story of bravery and patriotism in the face of bitter hatred. Abraham Bolden was a young African American Secret Service agent in Chicago when he was asked by John F. Kennedy himself to join the White House Secret...

The essential account of R. Kelly's actions and their consequences, a reckoning two decades in the making. Updated and expanded to include Kelly's 2021 trial and conviction. In 2000, Chicago journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis received an anonymous...

Stuart Hall's retirement from the Open University in 1997 provided a unique opportunity to reflect on an academic career which has had the most profound impact on scholarship and teaching in many parts of the world. From his early work on the media,...

An inspiring memoir of one man's transformation from a delinquent, drug-dealing dropout to an award-winning Harvard educator through literature and debate--all by the age of twenty-seven. Brandon P. Fleming grew up in an abusive home and was shuffled...

Guitarist Michael Bloomfield shot to stardom in the '60s with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Dylan, the Electric Flag and on Al Kooper's Super Session. His story is told in the words of his brother, musicians such as B.B. King, producer Paul...

Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe King Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate...

The Blindside meets Friday Night Lights in Keanon Lowe's Hometown Victory when an NFL coach returns home after losing a friend to opiods to coach a team of struggling high school kids on a 23-game losing streak. Keanon Lowe was working as an offensive...