Cultural Literature

The violence that has ravaged Algeria has often defied explanation. Regularly invoked in debates about political Islam, transitions to democracy, globalization, and the right of humanitarian interference, Algeria's tragedy has been reduced to a clash of...

The controversial thesis at the center of this study is that, despite the importance of slavery in Athenian society, the most distinctive characteristic of Athenian democracy was the unprecedented prominence it gave to free labor. Wood argues that the...

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...

Melancholic and introspective, ironical and apolitical, the urban cynic is a myth of our time. A casualty of modernization? Or a product of postmodernism? In this original and provocative book, Timothy Bewes undertakes a descent into the modern cynical...

Brother Mambo is a memoir of an anthropology graduate student who set out to document African cultural influences in the Guianas of South America. His initial study plan blocked by local immigration officials, he followed a hummingbird and other oracles...

A memoir about one man's journey to connect with his musician father, ultimately re-drawing the lines that define family and race. Throughout his adult life, whether he was opening a Seattle record store in the '90s or touring the world as the only...

Introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh NguyenA unique collection of 41 groundbreaking essays, poems, and artwork by migrants, refugees and Dreamers--including award-winning writers, artists, and activists--that illuminate what it is...

A poignant, moving memoir and urgent call to action for immigration justice by a Nigerian asylee and global gay rights and immigration activist Edafe Okporo. On the eve of Edafe Okporo's twenty-sixth birthday, he was awoken to a violent mob outside his...

Mary Catherine Bateson--author of the landmark bestseller Composing a Life--gives us an inspiring exploration of a new life stage that she calls Adulthood II, a result of the longer life spans and greater resources we now enjoy. In Composing a Further...

In this spellbinding memoir, popular CNN anchor Zain E. Asher pays tribute to her mother's strength and determination to raise four successful children in the shadow of tragedy. Awaiting the return of her husband and young son from a road trip, Obiajulu...

The title says it all. Break out the crayons, 'cause it gangsta rap coloring time! 48 pages of line drawings of Gangsta rappers, done with the thick black line we all remember from the coloring books of our youth. The juxtaposition of the outlaw image of...

What if you never had another fight or argument? And what if doing that helped bring peace to the world? You are invited to eavesdrop as Dorothie and Martin Hellman reveal the secrets that allowed them to transform an almost failed marriage into one...

The haka has always been a vital part of Maori culture and tradition. Today it has a growing influence on the lives of all New Zealanders. It provides a powerful and dramatic vehicle for welcoming visitors, challenging opponents, rejoicing in victory and...

The full, frank story of a remarkable life's journey--to the pinnacle of success as a basketball player, icon, and entrepreneur, to the depths of personal trauma and back, to a place of flourishing and peace--made possible above all by a family's love...

A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book A Best Book of 2021 by BuzzFeed and Real Simple   An "unmissable" (Vogue), "exceptional" (The Washington Post), and "evocative" (Chicago Tribune) memoir about three Black girls from the storied...