Black Issues Book Review articles from March 2005

Black Issues Book Review archives from March 2005

Poetry for all times.(from the editor-in-chief)
March 1, 2005... times like this are times when black people are with each other & the strength flows back & forth between us like borrowed breath. --From "When Black People Are" By A. B. Spellman Poetry in black America today is thriving. Part of our...

Putting a good face on it.(executive editor's view)
March 1, 2005... Visit any magazine rack in a bookstore, on a newsstand or at a grocery store, and the faces of celebrities jump out at you. The hope of all those magazine publishers is that you will see the photo of someone famous whom you want to know more...

Grateful for Hymnals.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... Thanks for your excellent survey of distinctly African American worship books by Kathryn V. Stanley ("Sing It Again: Our Treasured Hymnals," November-December 2004). While many have capitulated to the false dichotomies between sacred and...

Susan Taylor's Inspiration.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... Thank you for highlighting Susan Taylor's voice, immeasurable publication achievements and spiritual guidance ("Black Publishing's Inspirational Godmother," November-December 2004). It reminds me of the academic power of Taylor's inspirational...

Many thanks.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... Just wanted to personally thank you for giving Bro. Yao the opportunity to exercise his love and talent for writing in your publication ("Notes of a Native Bookseller" January-February 2005, MARKET BUZZ). We have received positive comments...

A relentless fan.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... Finally, I have landed in the pages of Black Issues Book Review ("Starting Here, Starting Now," November-December 2004). And now that I look back, it probably took this long for folks to digest and embrace the fact that I'm a phenom that has...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2005... The portrait of Barbara Smith was taken by Leigh H. Mosley and that of Audre Lorde was by Salimah Ali in "Lighting the Path," OUT, January-February 2005 issue.

A whole new meaning for the verb "to Google[R]".(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Google, the online search gizmo that became a verb, announced a plan in December 2004 to scan the books from the collections of five major libraries and to make their contents available to nearly anyone in the world with a mouse and an Internet...

Deals.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)
March 1, 2005... NONFICTION * United States Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has struck a $1.9 million, three-book deal with Crown Publishing Group and Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, divisions of Random House Inc. Obama, whose reissued memoir,...

A death in custody: Homeland Security officials investigate treatment of novelist Edwidge Danticat's late uncle, who died seeking asylum.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Joseph Dantica)
March 1, 2005... U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have been investigating the death of author Edwidge Danticat's elderly uncle who fled Haiti with a valid U.S. visa, only to be detained and denied his own prescribed medication. This past...

Signings & sightings.
March 1, 2005... NEW YORK CITY, NY PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature from April 16-22, 2005, features writers from every continent for dialogues, discussions and readings. The festival will include Wole Soyinka,...

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards 2004.
March 1, 2005... The American Library Association (ALA) announced the annual Coretta Scott King Awards at its midwinter meeting in Boston in January 2005. The award, given by the ALA's Ethnic Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, honors African...

Don't tell anyone it's fun: Georgia children discover the joy of reading and building thinking skills.(books & clubs)(Pass the Book)
March 1, 2005... While volunteering in her child's classroom, Sukari Harris noticed that many of the students lacked confidence in their reading. After speaking with the children, she learned that few of them read simply for pleasure outside the classroom. An...

Doormat.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Doormat by Kelly McWilliams Delacorte Press, September 2004 $15.95, ISBN 0-385-73168-X Doormat, the first novel by 15-year-old Kelly McWilliams, begins with narrator, Jaime, a 14-year-old, high-school freshman from "Nowhere," California....

The Golden Hour.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Golden Hour by Maiya Williams Amulet Books, March 2004 $16.95, ISBN 0-810-94823-0 In The Golden Hour, readers are spun through a delightful tale of a young family's journey to cope with their mother's death. The story ingeniously...

Orphea Proud.(Brief Article)(Young Adult)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Orphea Proud by Sharon Dennis Wyeth Delacorte Press, November 2004, $15.95, ISBN 0-385-32497-9 It's Showtime and Orphea Proud is our star performer and we are her audience. Orphea's supporting cast is a patchwork of sorts, who are all...

Image maker in the fine arts: with a deliberate aesthetic and a cutting-edge commitment, Delano Greenidge has established a reputation for publishing high-quality visual books.(Eye: a showcase for the visual arts)(Delano Greenidge Editions)
March 1, 2005... The volumes in the fine-arts series published by Delano Greenidge Editions (DGE) defy, easy categorization. There are the granular nudes in Black Bodies (2002); or the concentrated photographs in Kodachrome: The American Invention of Our World,...

The herstory of Black art.(Creating Their Own Image The History of African-American Women Artists)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Creating Their Own Image The History of African-American Women Artists by Lisa E. Farrington Oxford University Press, January 2005 $55, ISBN 0-195-16721-X At the height of the Black Power Movement in the 1970s, artist Faith Ringgold...

The power of the print.(Three Decades of Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Three Decades of Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection Introduction by Halima Taha, Ph.D. Hudson Hills Press, October 2004 $50, ISBN 1-555-95241-0 Beautiful, innovative printmaking by some of the most important artists of the...

Noteworthy title.(Eye: a showcase for the visual arts)(The Chemistry of Color African American Artists in Philadelphia 1970-1990 )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The Chemistry of Color African American Artists in Philadelphia 1970-1990 written by Kim Sajet, with Foreword by Howardena Pindell, The Harold A. and Ann R. Sorgenti Collection of Contemporary African American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine...

In the key of life/a review.(Tears For Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Tears For Water: Songbook of Poems & Lyrics by Alicia Keys, G.P Putnam's Sons, December 2004, $19.95, ISBN 0-399-15257-1 This work is a curious amalgamation of what the singer-songwriter reveals in her introduction as her most "delicate"...

Star poets and poet stars: the rise of the celebrity bard goes to the heart of what role verse plays in our lives.
March 1, 2005... In the past five years, we've experienced a salvo of celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Ashanti and T-Boz emerging with poetry-related texts. Because much of this celebrity poetry doesn't possess the maturity of craft to satisfy the finicky...

South Carolina: the poetry state: a professor teams with a newspaper to help bring lone voices and their work out into the open.(Poetry Initiative)(Kwame Dawes)
March 1, 2005... In the beginning was the poet. Then the poet called the paper. In partnership, the poet and the paper produced the column and the contest. From the poet and the paper and the column and the contest came the Poetry Initiative, a South...

A soulful place for poetry: the poet laureate of Connecticut gives form to a dream: a quite place and paid residencies for aspiring writers.
March 1, 2005... Imagine a house perched on seven acres of land, adjacent to a tree-lined pond with a red paddleboat beached at its shore. The three-acre puddle teems with inspiration and life--from the turtles lounging in the sun on fallen tree branches to the...

Wrestling with the Muse: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Wrestling With the Muse: Dudley by Melba Joyce Boyd Columbia University Press, February 2004 $29.50, ISBN 0-231-13026-0 From 1966 to 1975, Broadside Press published 81 books and was the most widely known independent, African American...

American Smooth.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... American Smooth by Rita Dove W. W. Norton & Company, September 2004 $22.95, ISBN 0-393-05987-1 This is Rita Dove's full-bodied return after five years, presumably, of dancing. "Fox Trot Fridays" is the first to the floor with ... ...

Furious Flower: African American Poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the Present.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Furious Flower: African American Poetry From the Black Arts Movement to the Present Edited by Joanne V. Gabbin University of Virginia Press, April 2004 $59.59, ISBN 0-813-92252-6 This volume is a compilation from selected poets who...

Complete Poems: Claude McKay.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Complete Poems: Claude McKay Edited by William d. Maxwell University of Illinois Press, February 2004 $40, ISBN 0-252-02882-1 Whether it is true or not that Claude McKay derided Harlem NAACP officials in 1922, as "pseudo-intellectuals," is...

The Maverick Room.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Maverick Room by Thomas Sayers Ellis Graywolf Press, January 2005 $14, ISBN 1-555-97414-7 It is difficult to imagine a place more fraught with contradictions than Washington, D.C. Rare, young poets have been able to take root in such...

Full Moon of Sonia.(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 1, 2005... Full Moon of Sonia by Sonia Sanchez Via International Artists, Inc. December 2004 $22.95, Compact Disc It is refreshing to see a legend, a respected artist, come forward and show all of us how to do it right. Full Moon of Sonia does more...

Taboo: the Wishbone Trilogy, Part One.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Taboo: The Wishbone Trilogy, Part One by Yusef Komunyakaa Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, September 2004 $20, ISBN 0-374-29148-9 Expectations are high when a collection's title is as ambitious as Taboo: The Wishbone Trilogy, Part One and the poet...

How We Sleep on the Nights We Don't Make Love.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... How We Sleep on the Nights We Don't Make Love by E. Ethelbert Miller, Curbstone Press April 2004, $12.95, ISBN 1-931-89604-6 Miller's uncanny ability to make the natural words of longing and respite feel like translations allow us to...

Black Maria.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Black Maria by Kevin Young Alfred A. Knopf, February 2005 $24.95, ISBN 1-400-04209-7 Incorporating the sensibilities of the blues into verse ain't no meaningless task. Check the blues-infused word workings of Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes,...

NEA awards four brothers in verse.(National Endowment for the Arts)(Cyrus Cassells)(Terrance Hayes)(Tyehimba Jess)(Kevin Young)
March 1, 2005... This past year marks the first time in 18 years that four African American male writers were awarded literary fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the same year. More significantly, the 2004 class of Cyrus Cassells,...

The power and grace of a boxing champ; with lightening speed and an impressive style, Sugar Ray Robinson was considered to be the best ever to step into the ring.(excerpt from "Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson")(Excerpt)
March 1, 2005... In the four years it took me to complete Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson (Amistad, February 2005, $24.95, ISBN 0-060-18876-6), nothing was as fascinating as researching Sugar's bouts with Jake LaMotta. The excerpt below is...

Bullets to ballots: looking back at Selma, building bridges to a democratic future.(The Unfinished Agenda of The Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Unfinished Agenda of The Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March (John Wiley & Sons, March 2005, $24.95, ISBN 0-471-71037-7) by the editors of Black Issues in Higher Education, our sister publication, examines the history of the Selma to...

Bridges yet to cross.(african american suffrage)
March 1, 2005... Thirty-five years ago, a single day in Selma became a seminal moment in the history of our country. On this bridge, America's long march to freedom met a roadblock of violent resistance. But the marchers, thank God, would not take a detour on...

"Urban thunder" tears black communities asunder; displacement and development whittle away at the collective psyche.(Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It)(Along Martin Luther King: Travels on Black America's Main Street)(American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland)(Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration An Oral History)(L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles From the Great Depression to the Present)(No Fire Next Time: Black-Korean Conflicts and the Future of America's Cities)(The Other Side of Middletown: Exploring Muncie's African American Community)(To Build Our Lives Together: Community Formation in Black Atlanta, 1875-1906)(Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It by Mindy Thompson Fullilove, M.D. One World/Ballantine Books, June 2004 $25.95, ISBN 0-345-45422-7 We've witnessed the 3-D disintegration of many...

All eyes on "eyes"; Oprah's adaptation of Zora's classic novel, starring Halle as Janie, is a historical moment for the worlds of television and literature.(Zora Neale Hurston)(Oprah Winfrey)
March 1, 2005... ZORA NEALE HURSTON, WHO WAS prone to prophetic dreams and visions, undoubtedly foresaw the resurrection of her life and work as black women writers and scholars such as Alice Walker and Cheryl Wall have called it forth. "I've been in...

Zoraphile: all about one of black literature's most storied authors.
March 1, 2005... Zora Neale Hurston, the flamboyant writer and folklorist gains in fame with each year. Hurston was a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, a feminist, folklorist and world traveler. Yet she found time to be author of seven novels, numerous short...

After a season: the book credited with igniting the urban genre, Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever, is back in a collector's edition.('round the way)
March 1, 2005... If in the year 1999 you were a literary connoisseur looking for a masterpiece in the likes of books such as Toni Morrison's Beloved or Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Sister Soujah's The Coldest Winter Ever may have seemed as appealing as a...

The Professor's Daughter.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Professor's Daughter by Emily Raboteau Henry Holt and Company, February 2005 $24, ISBN 0-805-07506-2 In her engaging debut novel, Raboteau gives fresh perspectives on the much-explored theme of identity. Emma Boudreaux's father is a...

Dying in the Dark: A Tamara Hayle Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Dying in the Dark: A Tamara Hayle Mystery by Valerie Wilson Wesley One World/Ballantine Books, September 2004 $22.95, ISBN 0-345-46806-6 In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the Tamara Hayle Mystery series, Newark's own Tamara...

Babylon Sisters.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Babylon Sisters by Pearl Cleage One World/Ballantine Books, April 2005 $23.95, ISBN 0-345-45609-2 When is it time to tell the truth to someone you love? For Catherine Sanderson, never seems like a good time. In Cleage's new novel, the...

My Jim.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... My Jim by Nancy Rawles Crown Publishers, January 2005 $19.95, ISBN 1-400-05400-1 Nancy Rawles has made a name for herself on the stage and on the page. Her previous works, in addition to several plays, include two novels: her award-winning...

Betrayal of the Trust.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Betrayal of the Trust by Leslie Esdaile Banks Dafina Books, November 2004 $15, ISBN 0-758-20733-6 The two things that come to mind after completing this novel are "you reap what you sow" and vengeance is not your responsibility. Laura...

The Untelling.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Untelling by Tayari Jones Warner Books, April 2005 $24.95, ISBN 0-446-53246-0 The Untelling is an impressive return to Atlanta, following Tayari Jones's award-winning debut novel, Leaving Atlanta. The main character, Aria, tries to...

Breaking out: in fiction and nonfiction, new books are ending the silence on life in prison, as well as societal policies and personal behaviors that put people there.(nonfiction)
March 1, 2005... After being released from prison in 1936, Chester Himes tried to publish a manuscript based on his personal experience there. Publishers rejected the material, which dealt with then forbidden topics such as corrupt guards, racism, casual...

Other noteworthy titles.
March 1, 2005... A Breed Apart: A Journey to Redemption by Victor Woods, Atria Books, January 2003 $24, ISBN 0-743-47738-3 An Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washington Jr. by Margaret Edds New York University Press, April 2003 $27.95, ISBN...

Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick Kotz Houghton Mifflin, January 2005 $25, ISBN 0-618-08825-3 Lyndon Johnson has, in some respects, become the "lost" president of...

Looking for Mr. Gilbert: The Reimagined Life of an African American.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Looking for Mr. Gilbert: The Reimagined Life Of An African American. by John Hanson Mitchell Shoemaker & Hoard, February 2005 $26, ISBN 1-593-76026-4 "... Positive obsession. Using it is like aiming carefully in archery," Octavia...

The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America by Debran Rowland, Esq. Sphinx Publishing/Sourcebooks, Inc., August 2004 $29.95, ISBN 1-572-48368-7 Female disenfranchisement in America has a sad...

Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Rising From the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class by Larry Tye Henry Holt & Co., July 2004 $26, ISBN 0-805-07075-3 Servants in the public sphere, kings at home--a paradoxical yet perennial theme in the...

A Brief and Tentative Analysis of Negro Leadership.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... A Brief and Tentative Analysis of Negro Leadership by Ralph J. Bunche, edited with an introduction by Jonathan Scott Holloway New York University Press, February 2005 $30, ISBN 0-814-73665-4 Much mystery surrounds Ralph J. Bunche...

Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power by Christine Acham University of Minnesota Press, October 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-8166-4431-4 This book explains how Good Times and Sanford and Son can be, alternately,...

Word! The Good Book finds new niches: specialty editions of the bible for African Americans and youth are reaping rewards for publishers.(faith)
March 1, 2005... Even publishers of the Good Book wrestle with this age old question: "How do we get more readers?" The current answer appears to be, "Find a niche," So publishers in the past several years have debuted Bibles that target specialized...

High-tech heaven: gadgets take Bibles to a new plane.(book bytes)
March 1, 2005... When you think of Bible reading, do you envision a roomful of priests quietly poring over ancient, dusty tomes? Do you conjure up a classroom full of religion students loudly debating the meaning of specific passages? Or do you picture a lone...

The Voice of My Boundaries: Life-Changing Exercises Your Other Coaches Didn't Tell You About!(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... The Voice of My Boundaries: Life-Changing Exercises Your Other Coaches Didn't Tell You About! by Venita King One Thru Publishing/The Get Me Through Collection, August 2004 $14.97, ISBN 0-972-37883-9 Life coach and author Venita King,...

Entrepreneurial Faith: Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God's Kingdom.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Entrepreneurial Faith: Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God's Kingdom by Kirbyjon Caldwell and Walt Kallestad Waterbrook Press, August 2004 $19.99, ISBN 1-578-56837-4 Kirbyjon Caldwell, a best-selling author and pastor of the...

Thinking with the Heart: Principle, Practice and Purpose for Spiritual Wellness.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Thinking With the Heart: Principle, Practice and Purpose for Spiritual Wellness by Horace E. Allen, D. Min. WinePress Publishing, February 2004 $19.95, ISBN 1-579-21603-X Allen, a therapist and pastor, examines the power of the...

Healed Without Scars.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Healed Without Scars by David G. Evans Whitaker House. August 2004 $12.99, ISBN 0-883-68542-6 Bishop Evans uses his own personal experience, accounts from persons he has counseled and biblical characters to illustrate ways to heal...

Even As Your Soul Prospers: Realize Your Purpose Release Your Blessings.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Even As Your Soul Prospers: Realize Your Purpose Release Your Blessings by Thomas Weeks III Harrison House Publishers, October 2004 $12.99, ISBN 1-577-94710-X This insightful book dispels the notion that prosperity is tied to money....

The lord's songs in a strange land; two histories dig down to the roots of gospel music and the culture of sound in African American life.(People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music by Robert Darden Continuum International Publishing Group October 2004, $24.95, ISBN 0-826-41436-2 The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History Through Songs, Sermons,...

Barbara Chase-Riboud, visionary woman: in words and art the renowned author and sculptor breathes life into the history of the forgotten female.(Contemporary legend: a new BIBR department celebrating living, literary giants of our times)
March 1, 2005... "Writing isn't my second choice. Writing is a parallel vocation." --Barbara Chase-Riboud Heeding the call of the Muses, poet, novelist and sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud has pursued art and writing as forms of expression since her...

Love and tenderness: sweet poetry for the child in all of us.(Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices)(Hewitt Anderson's Great Big Life by Jerdine Nolen)(Honey Baby Sugar Child)(Roy Makes a Car)(The Lonely Little Blue Book )(Children's Review)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Honey Baby Sugar Child by Alice Faye Duncan Illustrated by Susan Keeter Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, January 2005 $15.95, ISBN 0-689-84678-9 Ages 3-6 This sweet, prose poem captures the delight and wonder of being a parent;...

And now what? A young writer struggles to write the next great novel, while her first is all the buzz of the publishing world.(the writing life)
March 1, 2005... Toward the middle of my first novel, Upstate (St. Martin's Press, January 2005), a teacher who coordinates prison inmate education sternly instructs one of the novel's main characters: "JUST WRITE!" On the verge of an incarceration-induced...

On the way up: two emerging authors succeed in the fast-paced world of literary entrepreneurship.(self-publishing)(Darien Coleman)(Michael Presley)
March 1, 2005... A wealth of books by new authors--mostly self-published--has filled the African American bookshelves over the past few years. With so many new titles, it is a daunting task to have yours stand above the rest. How can a self-published author...

Flying off the shelves.
March 1, 2005... Hardcover Fiction 1. Drive Me Crazy/Eric Jerome Dickey (1) ($23.95, Dutton Books, ISBN 0-525-94790-6) The tenth novel from the best-selling author of Naughty or Nice, Eric Jerome Dickey serves up a new novel with style, sexiness,...