Cultural Literature

In the manner of Calvino's "Invisible Cities," Wendy S. Walters's essays deftly explore the psyches of cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York, Portsmouth, and Washington, D.C. In "Cleveland," she interviews an African-American playwright who draws...

Barack Obama's speech on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches should have represented the culmination of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial unity. Yet, in Fracture, MSNBC national...

A powerful chronicle of the sixteen weeks leading up to King of Pop Michael Jackson's death. Michael Jackson's final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the...

A personal tribute to the remarkable friendship between Tim Shanahan and Muhammad Ali, including dozens of never-before-told stories about Ali, his family, his entourage, and various celebrities along the way as well as never-before-published personal...

A groundbreaking book two decades in the works that tells the story of how a brilliant writer-turned-activist, granddaughter of a mulatto slave, and the first lady of the United States, whose ancestry gave her membership in the Daughters of the American...

In "Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles," professor and author Bert Ashe delivers a witty, fascinating, and unprecedented account of black male identity as seen through our culture's perceptions of hair. It is a deeply personal story that weaves together...

The Space Age began just as the struggle for civil rights forced Americans to confront the long and bitter legacy of slavery, discrimination, and violence against African Americans. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson utilized the space program...

During the early 1800s, about two dozen men of African descent lived in Hawai i. The most noteworthy was Anthony D. Allen, a businessman who had traveled around the world before making Hawai i his home and starting a family there in 1810. The 25th Black...

The acclaimed author of "The Other Wes Moore "continues his inspirational quest for a meaningful life and shares the powerful lessons--about self-discovery, service, and risk-taking--that led him to a new definition of success for our times. "The Work...

Best known for his 1970 polemic "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Gil Scott-Heron was a musical icon who defied characterization. He tantalized audiences with his charismatic stage presence, and his biting, observant lyrics in such singles as "The...

"Essence "magazine is the most popular, well respected, and largest circulated black women's magazine in history. Largely unknown is the remarkable story of what it took to earn that distinction." "The Man from Essence" depicts with candor and insight...

In THE NOBLE HUSTLE Colson Whitehead does for participatory journalism what he did for zombie novels in ZONE ONE: Take one literary genius, add $10,000 and a seat at the World Series of Poker, and stir. On one level, Colson Whitehead's THE NOBLE HUSTLE...