Cultural Literature

The first systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery. Karl Marx's writings on enslavement and labor have fallen out of favor among historians, but David McNally injects new life into them. Slavery and Capitalism gives the...

A concise and lucid explanation of what religious freedom is and isn't. Increasingly, conservative religious groups are using religious liberty as a sword to lash out at others. In this forcefully argued defense of the separation of church and state,...

Relive the tumultuous preseason before Robinson broke the color barrier"An in-depth look at a pivotal time in baseball history."--Lou Hernández, author of Baseball's Great Hispanic Pitchers "Set against the backdrop of Old Havana, Cesar Brioso has given...

"Among the most profound and dazzling debuts I've ever read." --Kiese Laymon, award-winning author of Heavy: An American Memoir   An essay collection from culture critic Lawrence Burney that is a personal and analytical look at his home city...

The star of classic television series, including The Jeffersons and 227, reveals her difficult journey from a tempestuous childhood to becoming a confident Hollywood powerbroker and groundbreaker who paved the way for today's superstar...

This detailed history of the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City, begins with its organization in 1809 and continues through its relocations, its famous senior pastors, and its many crises and triumphs, up to the present. Considered...

Summoned from the Margin tells the story of Lamin Sanneh's fascinating journey from his upbringing in an impoverished village in West Africa to education in the United States and Europe to a distinguished career teaching at the Universities of Yale,...

Black Church Beginnings provides an intimate look at the struggles of African Americans to establish spiritual communities in the harsh world of slavery in the American colonies. Written by one of today's foremost experts on African American religion,...

This book by Miguel De La Torre offers a fascinating guide to the history, beliefs, rituals, and culture of Santería -- a religious tradition that, despite persecution, suppression, and its own secretive nature, has close to a million adherents in the...

One of the greatest African American leaders and one of the most brilliant minds of his time, Frederick Douglass spoke and wrote with unsurpassed eloquence on almost all the major issues confronting the American people during his life--from the abolition...