Biography

The Dark Child is a distinct and graceful memoir of French author Camara Laye's youth in the village of Koroussa, French Guinea. Long regarded as Africa's preeminent Francophone novelist, Laye (1928-1980) herein marvels over his mother's supernatural...

A twelve year old stands in front of his sixth grade classroom, beside a science demonstration table with electric switch in his hand. Nobody had ever seen electric light in his village before. With windows closed and the door shut, he turns the light...

After Jeri Laber earned a Master's degree in Russian studies at Columbia University, she became a part-time writer and editor and a full-time wife and mother. Then one day in 1973 she read an article about torture that altered her life and subsequently...

The Courage of a Single Freckle began as therapeutic writing experience once Dr. Dodson also known as Dr. J, experienced racism in the workplace for the first time. Growing up in Memphis, TN and attending mostly mixed raced schools, Dr. J was pretty...

Including material and photographs not included in most of the 100 other books about the champion, Ishmael Reed's The Complete Muhammad Ali is more than just a biography--it is a fascinating portrait of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. An...

"Unsure of where I belong geographically, I grow in personal identity. In myself, I find a blending of nations and the intersection of culture. What pleasure to think that perhaps I am my own country!"What begins as a compilation of memories morphs into...

The College Diaries: How a Budding Black Feminist Found Her Voice explores the intersection of race, gender and culture. In her first novel, author DeAsia Paige highlights the college experience of a young Black woman trying to understand the world...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Maya Angelou's classic memoirs have had an enduring impact on American literature and culture. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS's American Masters. This Modern Library edition...

A seminal volume of four classic slave narratives, including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The History of Mary Price: A West Indian Slave, Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl, and The Life of Olaudah Equiano. Before the end of the Civil...

This first cultural biography of rap superstar and "master of storytelling" (The New Yorker) Kendrick Lamar explores his meteoric rise to fame and his profound impact on a racially fraught America--perfect for fans of Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Empire...

The powers-that-be in 1920s auto racing, namely the American Automobile Association's Contest Board, barred everyone who wasn't a white male from the sport. But Dewey Gatson, a black man who went by the name Rajo Jack, drove into the center of "outlaw"...

National Bestseller In this nuanced and complex portrait of Barack Obama, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Remnick offers a thorough, intricate, and riveting account of the unique experiences that shaped our nation's first African American president. Through...