Cultural Literature

A timely exploration of Oscar-nominated Black actors and the complicated legacy of the Academy Awards. In Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans, Frederick W. Gooding Jr. draws on American, African...

Named one of the best music books of 2017 by The Wall Street JournalA unique and kaleidoscopic look into the life, legacy, and electricity of the pop legend Prince and his wideranging impact on our cultureBen Greenman, New York Times bestselling author,...

Lord knows, Reverend Al has had his personal and very public ups and downs, but he's come out bigger and better than ever--though the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation is as fiery and outspoken as ever about the events and issues that matter most, he's...

Pittsburgh Jazz documents the almost forgotten magic created in the city of Pittsburgh by a host of artists, uptown inner city streets, and jazz joints that served patrons from a menu packed full of delightful music. The magical improvised songs,...

A beautifulmemoir written bythe first black female TV journalistabout her experience migrating from the Caribbean to the UK, and the beauty and struggle of becoming a woman during that experience Traveling over from Jamaica as a teenager, Barbara's...

The most substantial collection of critical essays on Morrison to appear since her death in mid-2019, this book contains previously unpublished essays which both acknowledge the universal significance of her writing even as they map new directions...

Using storytelling and performance to explore shared religious expression across continentsThrough a revolutionary ethnographic approach that foregrounds storytelling and performance as alternative means of knowledge, Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance...

An intimate look at the afterlife of lynching through the personal stories of Black victims and survivors who lived through and beyond its traumaMari N. Crabtree traces the long afterlife of lynching in the South through the traumatic memories it left in...

After 9/11, research on the perceived threat of terrorism moved in several directions. Some scholars examined the social construction of terrorism, scrutinizing the political rhetoric and media coverage associated with the threat. Other researchers...

Black Feminism and Traumatic Legacies in Contemporary African American Literature employs an analysis of select African American novels and applies trauma studies and Black Feminist Studies to explain the significance of trauma and traumatic experiences...

A riveting, kaleidoscopic account of nine tumultuous days, as the assassination of Nelson Mandela's protégé by a white supremacist threatens to derail South Africa's democratic transition and plunge the nation into civil war. Johannesburg, Easter...

Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed more than 60 million times. The viral video's main point--the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person--is the springboard for this...