Black & African American

Reviewed by: 

Emily Raboteau is a 47-year-old Black woman of mixed race, who lives in the Bronx, NY, with her husband and two adolescent sons.

Reviewed by: 

Few nonfiction books age well, especially those about race in America—the works of W. E. B. Dubois and John Hope Franklin being the most conspicuous exceptions.

Reviewed by: 

Despite the horrific racism he’d seen, suffered, and fought against, John Lewis never allowed his heart to be consumed by hate.

Reviewed by: 

“Together Vance and Smith debunk the myths that ‘therapy is only for white folks’ and ‘prayer is enough.’”

Reviewed by: 

“offers as thorough an examination of the question of both race and the quarterback position in professional football, as can be found anywhere.”

Reviewed by: 

“Bordewich’s book should serve as a cautionary tale to keep us alert to the modern incarnation of the KKK, which has traded its bed sheets and hoods for coats and ties.”

Reviewed by: 

“The Green Book was more than just a road trip guide but a way of survival. Hall hopes that it’s history will live on.”

Reviewed by: 

Stamped from the Beginning is an excellent, accessible primer on the history of U.S. racism.

Reviewed by: 

“J. C. Hallman explores the problems with historical conscience in Say Anarcha, the story of Dr.

Reviewed by: 

“The closing words in Brown’s important and fine book put her in a class with the brilliant women whose life stories she shares.

Reviewed by: 

Bagby’s immaculate research, coupled with her keen sense for real-life character development and dramatic arcs, makes for a fascinating and surprisingly quick read on a fo

Reviewed by: 

“Africatown, throughout, has a sense of immediacy and intimacy, the readers almost seem to learn this important saga of African American history with the author.”

Reviewed by: 

At the July 2020 funeral of longtime congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, former president Bill Clinton struck a condescending and triumphalist note in his eulogy when he opined, “There we

Reviewed by: 

“the narrative has clear writing and solid scholarship that does not promote an agenda, leaving the reader to imagine broader implications and slavery’s legacy.”

Reviewed by: 

The resilience of the Crafts, their determination not to allow racism to break their spirits, is the human core of their story . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“Evette Dionne spares readers none of the agony she suffers being a large woman in a small-minded world . . .”

Reviewed by: 

Ever since the music called jazz emerged in the Black and Creole communities of early 20th century New Orleans (as most histories of the music contend), the vast majority of journalists, authors, a

Reviewed by: 

My Pinup may be brief, but it is amazingly rich, more a prose poem than a conventional essay. . . . My Pinup is a gem.”

Reviewed by: 

“Dick Gregory was one of a kind, the genuine article.”

Reviewed by: 

In his timely and necessary The Third Reconstruction, Peniel Joseph has written a book with the power to engender the same consuming and transforming passion that

Reviewed by: 

“Throughout the book, O’Rourke mixes positive with negative as he discusses where the country is and how it got here, primarily with his focus on history in Texas.”

Reviewed by: 

Ancestors and forerunners show up in the annals of American literature more often than readers imagine.

Reviewed by: 

African Founders is a Promethean work, a truly magisterial and magnificent book of cultural history that extracts from potentially dry demographi

Pages