Black Issues Book Review articles from September 2003

Black Issues Book Review archives from September 2003

Third world press upcoming events.
September 1, 2003... Maud Martha 50th Anniversary Celebration September 2003 will mark the 50th anniversary of this first and only published novel from esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Maud Martha is a well-written tale of a spirited and idealistic black woman....

From the editor-in-chief.(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... What do popular erotic novels by Zane and Christian fiction like Church Folk and Second Sunday have in common? And what similarity do nonfiction titles by Michael Eric Dyson, Dorothy Height and Carter G. Woodson share with the previously...

Our readers up close.(executive editor's view)(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... On a brilliantly sunny day in Harlem not king ago, hundreds of people packed the block of 135th Street between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards, just outside the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The overwhelmingly...

Web innovator responds.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I know I always feel awkward when someone "thanks" me for an article. After all, I haven't done the article for them. I've done the piece because I think it is a good story. So I thank you for considering my little baby-grand project,...

Memoir on DVD, too.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Thank you very much for your thoughtful insights in your book review of The Dawn At My Back: Memoir of a Black Texas Upbringing (EYE, July-August 2003). The entire project happened by chance. Based on your review, I do want to provide you with...

"Reading Rainbow" needs pot of gold.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Reading Rainbow, the PBS show that uses television to entice children to read good books, picked up its seventh Emmy for best children's series in June. Rainbow host LeVar Burton, accepting the award, broke the bad news that no funding was...

The Minutes, The Moments, The Hours, Jill Scott's collection of poetry (her original axe), prompted spirited bidding at auction.(Deals)
September 1, 2003... * The Minutes, The Moments, The Hours, Jill Scott's collection of poetry (her original axe), prompted spirited bidding at auction. Who's pledging the tippy-top dollar for this likely-to-be sizzler? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, And It Don't Stop:...

October is the publication date of Death of Innocence (Random House, $24.95, ISBN 1-400-06117-2), a powerful memoir by Emmett Till's late mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and Christopher Benson of Ebony.(Deals)
September 1, 2003... * October is the publication date of Death of Innocence (Random House, $24.95, ISBN 1-400-06117-2), a powerful memoir by Emmett Till's late mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and Christopher Benson of Ebony. The RH acquiring editor Melody Guy says...

Kings Crossing Publishing of Atlanta adds.(Deals)
September 1, 2003... * Kings Crossing Publishing of Atlanta adds a heavyweight to its list. It is reissuing Penny Mickelbury's four Mimi Patterson-Gianna Maglione mystery novels. Already out: Keeping Secrets (July 2003, $14.95, ISBN 0-971-44895-7) and Lave Notes...

Monique Patterson, an editor at St. Martin's Press, gives a November publication date for Rocking Around That Christmas Tree by Francis Ray and Donna Hill.(Deals)
September 1, 2003... * Monique Patterson, an editor at St. Martin's Press, gives a November publication date for Rocking Around That Christmas Tree by Francis Ray and Donna Hill. The 152-page novella will be a 15-dollar hardcover edition. St. Martha's published...

Dr. Ronn Elmore.(Deals)
September 1, 2003... * Dr. Ronn Elmore, the minister-psychotherapist-author, has followed up How to Love a Black Man (1996) and How to Love a Black Woman (1998) with the HarperCollins release An Outrageous Commitment: The 48 Vows of an Indestructible Marriage...

Oprah's classic pick.
September 1, 2003... For September: Novelist Steinbeck Reviving the Oprah Book Club in a classics-only version in May, Oprah Winfrey declared, "My mission is to make this the biggest book club in the world and get people reading again." (See BIBR, July/August...

Marlene Connor, an agent who left New York City to work in Minnesota, is looking for suspense, thrillers and literary fiction.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... * Marlene Connor, an agent who left New York City to work in Minnesota, is looking for suspense, thrillers and literary fiction. She tips us to expect a "new, pretty exciting idea" from Thelma Balfour, a Simon & Schuster/Fireside author (Black...

Amistad sails on.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... HarperCollins has relaunched Amistad Press, one of the oldest imprints devoted to tides for the African American market under the umbrella of a major New York publishing house. The founding editor, Charles Harris--on whose shoulders two...

Celebrating a radio legend.
September 1, 2003... On October 27 at Madison Square Garden: A lifetime tribute to Hal Jackson, cofounding mogul of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. It's the 20th anniversary of Hal Jackson's "Sunday Classics" show on the flagship station WBLS-NY. Jackson may...

Baraka plans to sue NJ.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The New Jersey State Assembly voted 69 to 2 on July 7 to abolish the state poet laureate, evicting incumbent Amiri Baraka. Baraka has been criticized for a poem he wrote raising questions about the terrorist spawned disasters of September...

Hillary's home in Harlem.
September 1, 2003... For the June debut of her autobiographical Living History (Simon & Schuster; June 2003, $28, ISBN 0-743-22224-5), Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped at Clara Villarosa's year-old Harlem bookstore Hue-Man. "Her office and the publishers...

Calling letter writers.
September 1, 2003... Editors Catherine E. McKinley and Donald Weise invite submissions of personal and public letters, personal writings, and unique photographs for Writing Between the Lines: A History of African American Literature in Letters, 1750-2000, under...

Calabash's literary beach party: rain couldn't dampen the spirits of international literary fans in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.
September 1, 2003... Nestled in a fisherman's village on the south coast of the Caribbean island of Jamaica, a literary revolution takes place. For the third consecutive year, the Calabash International Literary Festival, held in Treasure Beach, celebrates the...

Signings & sightings.
September 1, 2003... ANN ARBOR, MI Tananarive Due will be reading from her latest book, The Good House. September 8; 7:00 p.m. Borders Books & Music 3527 Washtenaw Ave. 734-677-6948 Shirley Verrett, the opera singer, will be reading from and signing her...

This property is not condemned: Bebe Moore Campbell introduces BIBR readers to prize-winning Author Valerie Martin in a cross-racial dialogue on the challenges of writing novels about race and social change.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... The novel Property by Valerie Martin (Doubleday, February 2003, $23.95, ISBN 0-385-55040-8X) is a slim volume--less than 200 page--but it contains a powerful and gripping story told in the voice of Manon Gaudet, the alienated wife of a...

Book 'em! Superior Court Judge sentences juvenile offenders to hard literary labor.(Paths To Academic Success)
September 1, 2003... Alameda County California: Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson Stanley presides over the Juvenile Division of one of northern California's most challenging courtrooms. As expected, the shelves in her chambers are filled with volumes of legal...

Keeping it in the family: Ohio couple's decision to educate their three sons at home pays off with entry to the Ivy League.(Paths To Academic Success)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Paula Penn-Nabrit and her husband, Charles, removed their three sons, twins Charles and Damon, then 11 years old, and Evan, 9, from a noted prep school in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, after concerns about the lack of black faculty and...

Hitting the mark: leading-edge books that suggest what we must do to close the academic gap.(Paths To Academic Success)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Achievement Matters: Getting Your Child the Best Education Possible By Hugh B. Price, Kensington Pub. Corp. September 2002, $27.00, ISBN 0-758-20119-2 In writing this book, former president of the National Urban League, demonstrates why he...

Banned somewhere in the U.S.A.: many African American classics are consigned to another insidious "black list".
September 1, 2003... The First Amendment to The U.S. Constitution provides, apparently not in the clearest language, that writers and artists and all freethinkers who weave ideas and language into an illuminating, even provocative form, have the right to do so. But...

Plagiarism playing by the rules: in the academic world, in music and even in church, what constitutes plagiarism is under new scrutiny after journalism's wake-up call.
September 1, 2003... Anyone who thinks that a young black reporter wrote the book on plagiarism does not know much history. Other writers, performers and artists--even well-known preachers--who blend of the arts of writing, storytelling and dramatic performance,...

Beverly Lowry's speculative "nonfiction": the white author of a new Madam Walker biography is lauded by the mainstream as if Walker's award-winning black chroniclers never existed. But Lowry also acknowledges mistakes in her Walker text to BIBR and vows to fix some of them in the paperback edition.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... When Her Dream of Dreams: The Rise and Triumph of Madam C.J. Walker by Beverly Lowry was published in April (Knopf, $27.50, ISBN 0-679-44642-7), it was billed as "a comprehensive biography... of America's first black woman millionaire." Well,...

The trials and triumphs of American literature.
September 1, 2003... "EACH GENERATION MUST, OUT OF RELATIVE OBSCURITY, DISCOVER ITS MISSION, FULFILL IT, OR BETRAY IT." FRANTZ FANON, 1964 When most knowledgeable black American readers think of African literature, they usually conjure up the Golden Age of the...

Healing mother Africa: contemporary African poets explore new rhythms and themes.(poetic license)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Jelly Roll: A Blues by Kevin Young Knopf, January 2003 $23.00, ISBN 0-375-41460-6 If recent happenings in Africa's poetry scene are indicators of things to come, it appears the continent is headed for a poetic resurgence. Not since the...

BIBR spotlight: saluting an innovative dramatist: ahead of her time, playwright Adrienne Kennedy paved the way for Ntozake Shange, George C. Wolfe and the rest.
September 1, 2003... When the play Funnyhouse of a Negro opened off-Broadway in 1964, reaction was swift and vitriolic. One New York critic called the play "a disaster, not even worthy of consideration." The play went on to win an Obie Award. Today, the playwright...

Aaron McGruder's greatest hits: the creator of the popular four-year-old syndicated strip "The Boondocks" pulls no punches as he expands his franchise to books and films.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... CARTOONIST AARON MCGRUDER WOULD be a great grumpy old man, but he'll have to wait. He's only 29. Nonetheless, like the curmudgeon he is, McGruder has taken to task America's only black billionaire, BET founder Bob Johnson, speculated on...

The Art of Romanre Bearden.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... by Ruth E. Fine (essays by Sarah Kennel, Nnamdi Elleh Jacqueline Francis, and Abdul Goler) Abrams/ National Gallery of Art September 2003, $50.00, ISBN 0-810-94640-8 A mammoth publication in breadth and depth, covering multiple decades of...

Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren and Naigzy Gebremedhin Merrell Publishers, September 2003 $65.00, ISBN 1-858-94209-8 News of war and famine dominate the popular image of East Africa, our mental picture determined by border disputes on an...

Harlem Lost and Found: an Architectural and Social History, 1765-1915.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Michael Henry Adams, photographs by Paul Rocheleau The Monacelli Press, June 2003 $65.00, ISBN 1-580-93070-0 Harlem possesses some of the most amazing and diverse architecture seen in New York, and it tells a great tale that parallels...

Ethiopian Passages: Contemporary Art From the Diaspora.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... by Elizabeth Harney Philip Wilson Publisher (London)/ Smithsonian National Museum of African Art May 2003, $29.95, ISBN 0-856-67562-8 How ironic to review Elizabeth Harney's book Ethiopian Passages: Contemporary Art From the Diaspora at the...

Black President: the Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti edited by Trevor Schoonmaker The New Museum for Contemporary Art August 2003, $30.00, ISBN 0-915-55787-8 Fans of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the iconic Afro-beat musician and human rights activist, are in for a...

I Never Walked Alone: the Autobiography of an American Singer.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Shirley Verrett with Christopher Brooks John Wiley & Sons, May 2003 $30.00, ISBN 0-471-20991-0 With an exquisite voice of dizzying range and a stunning career that spanned more than four decades, Shirley Verrett is one of the world's...

Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Alfred Appel Jr. Knopf, September 2002 $35.00, ISBN 0-394-53393-3 Peppered throughout, with full-color reproductions of art and photography, the 295 pages of Jazz Modernism are visually and tactilely exciting--from the extreme close up...

Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Edited by Trevor Schoonmaker Palgrave, July 2003 $19.95, ISBN 1-403-96210-3 This compilation of essays peers at the protest artist and funky instrumentalist Fela Kuti with thoughtful inspection, canonizing the cult hero as a deity of the...

Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Greg Tate, Lawrence Hill Books, July 2003 $18.95, ISBN 1-556-52469-2 Say "Jimi Hendrix," and certain images emerge: Woodstock, flaming guitars, a gypsy uniform, psychedelics, and almost always, white folks. That Jimi, a black man, was...

Flavor as artifact: Jessica Harris: stirring up pots of history.(The welcome table)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... It's easy to understand why Jessica Harris is considered the Zora Neale Hurston of the culinary world. Like Hurston, she has a way with words, a love of history and a passion for anthropology, as well as an appreciation for everyday folks and...

The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations From Two Great Southern Cooks.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock Knopf, April 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-375-40035-4 Edna Lewis, a Virginia native famous for her classic cookbooks The Taste of Country Cooking (Random House, June 1976, ISBN 0-394-73215-4) and In Pursuit of Flavor...

Writing out loud: Novelist E. Lynn Harris's searing memoir of his life as a gay black male climbs the best-seller lists.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... With his trilogy--Invisible Life (1991), Just As I Am (1994) and Abide With Me (1999)--novelist E. Lynn Harris combined rich characterization with intriguing story lines of true love, lust, spirituality, friendship and family unity. His fiction...

Get real and get rich: a critic's take on books for African Americans on how to foster success, make money and hold on to it.
September 1, 2003... In the mid-'80s, when my husband and I were saving for a house, I read about a man who became an avid saver while in high school. He saved everyday, and by 35 had amassed $50,000. With that money he made a down payment on a house in suburban...

We Won't Budge: an African Exile in the World.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Manthia Diawara Basic Civitas Books, June 2003 $26.00, ISBN 0-465-01709-6 This Malian-born writer admits that the title, much like the Salif Keita song for which it's named, sounds a bit too literal and exhausting. The reason: it reads...

The Best of Emerge Magazine.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... edited by George E. Curry Illustrated by William Sandifer One World/Ballentine Books, August 2003 $19.95, ISBN 0-345-46228-9 The 1990s were heady times for black Americans. They gamed more power and influence and faced more explosive issues...

Wendy's Got the Heat.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... by Wendy Williams with Karen Hunter Atria Books, August 2003 $24.00, ISBN 0-743-47021-4 After nearly two decades dropping sizzling no-holds-barred celebrity scandal on East Coast airwaves, and with the recent premiere of a new cable...

A "mother" of the movement gets her due; Ella Baker's behind-the-scenes work in organizing a vast army of civil rights activists takes center stage.(bibliomane)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Ella Baker was an activist and an organizer whose work touched many lives. Educated at Shaw University in North Carolina, she moved to Harlem in the 1920s and became an organizer for the Young Negroes Cooperative League in Depression-era...

True Vine: a Young Black Man's Journey of Faith, Hope and Charity.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by John W. Fountain, Public Affairs June 2003, $26.00, ISBN 1-586-48084-7 Ordained preacher and journalist John Fountain believes his rise from welfare and hard times to working at the New York Times is not about the power of the human...

Cover Girls.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Bishop T.D. Jakes Warner Books, July 2003 $22.95, ISBN 0-446-52906-0 In his latest book, the Evangelist T.D. Jakes takes his trademark theme of empowering and "loosing" women from their spiritual, emotion; and psychological bonds into a...

Faith of Our Fathers: an Examination of the Spiritual Life of African and African-American People.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Mumia Abu-Jamal Africa World Press, Inc., September 2003 $19.95, ISBN 1-592-21019-8 In this swift, candid account of the spiritual evolution of African people throughout the Diaspora, Mumia Abu-Jamal takes the reader on a journey from...

Acting out: Christian novelist finds her audience through drama.(self publishing)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Bookstore shelves are fully stocked with African American titles, both mainstream and self-published, so getting sales takes a lot more than the tried-and-true method--autographings, postings on Web sites, distributing flyers and mailing...

A season for the strange: tales of mystery tantalize the spirit and the intellect, staging Sowa's stories.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... As long as there have been Africans in America, spirits have spoken to them in one form or another. From Nat Turner to Zora Neale Hurston to Langston Hughes, the connection of inspiring spirits to the continent that gave birth to humankind has...

Mojo: Conjure Stories.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Edited by Nalo Hopkinson Aspect/Warner Books, April 2003 $13.95, ISBN 0-446-67929-1 Mojo: Conjure Stories further establishes the award-winning writer Nalo Hopkinson as a key player in the genre of speculative fiction. In her latest...

The Good House.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Tananarive Due Atria Books, September 2003 $25.00, ISBN 0-743-44900-2 In this melodramatic tale, Angela Toussaint, an entertainment lawyer and agent, is estranged from her tall, tan, ex-pro-jock hubby, Tariq. She travels from Los...

Proverbs for the People.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Tracy Price-Thompson and TaRessa Stovall wanted to create an anthology that featured both new and established voices. They also wanted to challenge writers to stretch their talents. After some creative brainstorming, the co-editors"asked a...

No Crystal Stair.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Eva Rutland MIRA Books, February 2003 $12.95, ISBN 1-551-66662-6 Taking its title from a stanza in Langston Hughes's poem "Mother to Son," Rutland's memorable novel chronicles six decades of American history through the experiences of a...

Purple Hibiscus.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie October 2003, $12.95, ISBN 1-565-12387-5 The first line of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut novel begins with: "Things started to fall apart at home when...." Adichie's wordplay is almost certainly a nod to...

Langhorn and Mary: a 19th Century American Love Story.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Priscilla Stone Sharp Ambrosia Books, January 2003 $25.95, ISBN 0-972-75190-4 In Langhorn and Mary, Priscilla Stone Sharp paints a memorable tapestry of love and survival against the riveting, vibrant canvas of pre-Civil War America....

Breaking Away.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Kristin Lattany Ballantine Books, April 2003 $23,95, ISBN 0-34544249-0 In Breaking Away, the racially motivated attack on four black students on the eve of their sorority's Founders' Day celebration breaks the silence on strained race...

Hunting in Harlem.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Mat Johnson Bloomsbury Books, May 2003 $23.95, ISBN 1-582-34272-5 After a two-year absence from the literary arena, Mat Johnson delivers his long-awaited sophomore novel. It is the gritty and frequently funny story about three thugs who...

Those Who Walk in Darkness.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... This remotely exciting sci-fi thriller centers on heroics of Soledad "Bullet" O'Roark, a 26-year-old engineering whiz who is pitted to destroy all "metanormals" who chose to remain in the U. S. after the country decides to expel them all. While...

How baseball changed race relations.(arena)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier by Harvey Frommer Taylor Trade Publishing (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group) April 2003 $18.95 ISBN 0-878-33312-6 The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black...

Teacher's act: library book club provides continuing education credits for teachers.(books N club)
September 1, 2003... The Club: Kuumba Book Club Book Preferences: Fiction by African American Authors Number of Members: 16 How Often They Meet: Third Monday of each month from September to May Last Book Read: Kindred...

High-tech literary coaches: get past that writer's block with a little help from your cyberfriends.(bookbytes)
September 1, 2003... Second in a three-part series on Web sites and technology for writers Still sitting at the computer staring at a blank page in Microsoft Word? Need a jump start? These helpful Web sites could assist and inspire you to create the next great...

Tech-know.(bookbytes)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... For all you eBook enthusiasts, Palm Digital Media announces an upgrade to Palm Reader Pro for the Pocket PC. It now includes the Webster's New Word (tm) Vest Pocket Dictionary, autoscroll and text justification, among other features. The cost...

Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Bebe Moore Campbell, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis, G.P. Putnam's Sons, September 2003 $16.99, ISBN 0-399-23972-3 The celebrated novelist Bebe Moore Campbell tackles the delicate and often volatile dimension of manic-depressive illness...

Teacher's choice: English instructors include black images and themes in the lists they assign.
September 1, 2003... Black Issues Book Review asked several middle- and high-school teachers what books they were exploring with their students this term. Their choices include books that are likely to allow African American children to see themselves represented...

Teacher's recommended reading.
September 1, 2003... Cousins by Virginia Hamilton Philomel Books, October 1990 $17.99, ISBN 0-399-22164-6 Fences by August Wilson Viking Penguin, 1986 $11.00, ISBN 0-452-26401-4 Gifted Hands by Ben Carson Zondervan, December 1996 ...

The Dream Bearer.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... by Walter Dean Myers HarperCollins Publishers/Amistad May 2003 $15.99, ISBN 0-060-29521-X It's summer in Harlem as twelve-year-old David Curry and his good friends Loren and Sessi are hanging out trying to have fun. Life is complicated for...

Muhammad.
September 1, 2003... In keeping with Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad and family are not depicted in author-illustrator Demi's stunning illustrations for this book. The simply rendered text of Muhammad's remarkable life and purpose clearly and beautifully...

The Battle of Jericho.
September 1, 2003... Jericho Prescott, a hefty 16-year-old trumpet whiz, can't believe his luck when he is asked to pledge for the Warriors of Distinction, the coolest club at Frederick Douglass High. His cousin Josh and best friend, Kofi, are also thrilled to be...

Henry Dumas's Soular System: thirty-five years after Dumas's tragic death, a friend remembers the man and the writer behind the cult figure.(tribute)
September 1, 2003... The great god Shango in the African sea reached down with palm oil and oozed out me. --from "Funk" by Henry Dumas In 1969, Black Arts leader Amiri Baraka eulogized Henry Dumas as "an underground deity" who, before bullets felled him in...

Flying off the shelves.
September 1, 2003... Hardcover Fiction 1. The Other Woman/Eric Jerome Dickey ($23,95, E.P. Dutton, ISBN 0-525-94724-8) Betrayal shakes up the picture-perfect marriage of a black middle-class couple in L.A.; the eighth novel by the best-selling author...