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African American Books | - 339 items found in your search |
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Calling the Wind: Twentieth Century African-American Short Stories
New York, New York, U.S.A. Perennial 1993 0060982012 / 9780060982010 Trade Paperback Near-Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Near-new condition. NO writing, marks or tears - Tight spine - Bright pages. 622 pages. NO remainder marks or price clippings. Frontispiece artwork. The phrase "calling the wind" originated during slavery days, when slaves depended on the wind to lend force to a task or to carry the voice across a distance. This highly readable collection of stories follows the concerns of the black community from Reconstruction to modern African-American culture. More than 50 contributors include Gloria Naylor, Zora Neale Hurston, and Al Young.
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4.00 USD
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Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem; Steinberg, Alan Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement
William Morrow & Co 1996 0688130976 / 9780688130978 Hard Cover Fine Near-Fine 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
Near-new condition. NO remainder marks or price clippings. Tight spine, bright pages. 232 pages. Nicely illustrated throughout. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. Dustcover is clean and bright (NO tears). In Black Profiles in Courage, [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] focuses on extraordinarily courageous black men and women who typified the virtues of integrity, discipline, and self-respect. Taken together, their lives form a legacy from which African Americans of all ages can draw inspiration, wisdom, and pride. Some of these courageous heroes include Peter Salem - the slave, blacksmith, and volunteer soldier who turned the tide at Bunker Hill; Joseph Cinque - the leader of a daring revolt on the slave ship Amistad; Frederick Douglass - a self-taught writer and orator who escaped slavery and became one of the most famous black leaders of the nineteenth century; Harriet Tubman - the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, who was also a spy and scout for the Union Army; Lewis Latimera son of slaves, whose scientific work was integral to the achievements of Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim, and Thomas Edison.
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5.78 USD
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Abu-Jamal, Mumia; Wideman, John Edgar Live from Death Row
Perseus Books 1995 020148319x / 9780201483192 Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Like-new copy - Price inside dustcover: $20.00 - NO remainder marks - No price clippings - Once a prominent radio reporter, Mumia Abu-Jamal is now in a Pennsylvania prison awaiting his state-sactioned execution. In 1982 he was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner after a trial many have criticized as profoundly biased. Live From Death Row is a collection of his prison writings—an impassioned yet unflinching account of the brutalities and humiliations of prison life. It is also a scathing indictment of racism and political bias in the American judicial system that is certain to fuel the controversy surrounding the death penalty and freedom of speech.
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5.00 USD
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Alexander, Adele Logan Homelands and Waterways: The American Journey of the Bond Family, 1846-1926
New York, New York, U.S.A. Pantheon Books 1999 0679442286 / 9780679442288 First Edition Trade Paperback Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Like-new condition - Appears unread. Stated First Edition. NO remainder marks or price clippings - Tight spine - Bright pages. Illustrated with photos. 694 pages. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. - From the Publisher Homelands and Waterways is a monumental history that traces the rise of a resolute African American family (the author's own) from privation to the middle class. In so doing, it explodes the stereotypes that have shaped and distorted our thinking about African Americans - both as slaves and in freedom. Adele Logan Alexander's account is the result of extensive interviews and exhaustive research in government, church, and academic archives, as well as in private papers and photographic collections. From The Critics John Head - USA Today In Homelands and WaterwaysAdele Logan Alexander has compiled and extraordinarily well-researched narrative of the American history that swirled around her ancestors. It offers the most intimate details of family life as Alexander captures the currents of cultural change that swept the nation. She shows that not all free-born American blacks lived in the North during the era of slavery, and that virulent racism among soldiers in the Civil War wasn't limited to the ranks of the Confederates. Her voluminous collection of facts conveys the tastes, textures and tenor of the times. General-interest readers drawn to fascinating family stories will be pleased.
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3.95 USD
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Ali, Muhammad; Durham, Richard The Greatest: My Own Story
Random House 1975 Book Club (BCE/BOMC) Hard Cover Very Good + Very Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
A photo of this book is available. Nice copy of this 1975 hardback. NO remainder marks or dustcover clippings. Tight spine, clean pages. NO writing or tears inside book. Pages show slight tanning. 416 pages.
Price:
4.78 USD
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Angelou, Maya All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
New York, New York, U.S.A. Vintage Books 1991 067973404x / 9780679734048 Trade Paperback Near-Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
A photo of this book is available. Near-fine condition. NO remainder marks or clippings. Tight spine, clean pages. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. Covers are bright and clean (NO tears). Previous owner's bookplate in book front, on blank page (Mrs. Piggott). 208 pages. To read Angelou's book, the latest in a series of autobiographical works begun with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, without being moved would seem impossible. Here, this American poet, actress, civil rights activist and TV producer-director recalls her pilgrimage to Ghana in the early 1960s. Ostensibly, Angelou went there so that her son could study at the University of Ghana to put him (and herself) in touch with long-imagined ancestral roots. Sadly, she was disillusioned by the subtle rejection of native Ghanaians. Fighting this painful sense of not belonging, she plunged into activities; appearing in Genet's play The Blacks with black American performers, she went briefly to Berlin, where she underwent a searing experience dining in the home of a wealthy crypto-Nazi German. Other encounters, even the more pleasurable ones, hardly mitigate the homesickness and hurt underlying Angelou's poignant recall, which includes a meeting with Malcolm X and her visit to a village where, centuries ago, black men sold other black men, women and children to white slave traders.
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2.78 USD
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Angelou, Maya All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
Random House Inc 1997 0679457747 / 9780679457749 Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
A photo of this book is available. Near-new condition. Small remainder dot on top. NO price clippings. Price inside dustcover: $20.00. NO writing, marks or tears. 209 pages. Tight spine, bright pages. Synopsis "Thoroughly enjoyable . . . an important document drawing more much-needed attention to the hidden history of a people both African and American. Los Angeles Times Book Review. Annotation This is the fifth volume in Maya Angelou's successful autobiography. Los Angeles Times Book Review Thoroughly enjoyable...an important document drawing more much-needed attention to the hidden history of a people both African and American. Biography An author whose series of autobiographies is as admired for its lyricism as its politics, Maya Angelou is a writer who’s done it all. Angelou's poetry and prose -- and her refusal to shy away from writing about the difficult times in her past -- have made her an inspiration to her readers.
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4.78 USD
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Angelou, Maya Even the Stars Look Lonesome
Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A. Random House Inc 1997 0375500316 / 9780375500312 Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Near-new condition. NO remainder marks or dustcover clippings. Tight spine, clean pages. NO writing, marks or tear inside book. 149 pages. Even the Stars Look Lonesome is Maya Angelou talking of the things she cares about most. In her unique, spellbinding way, she re-creates intimate personal experiences and gives us her wisdom on a wide variety of subjects. She tells us how a house can both hurt its occupants and heal them. She talks about Africa. She gives us a profile of Oprah. She enlightens us about age and sexuality. She confesses to the problems fame brings and shares with us the indelible lessons she has learned about rage and violence. And she sings the praises of sensuality.
Price:
3.28 USD
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Ansa, Tina McElroy Ugly Ways
San Diego, CA, U.S.A. Harcourt Trade Publishers 1993 0151925534 / 9780151925537 Hard Cover Fine Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Only writing/mark in book is previous owner's signature in book front - on blank page. - Three sexy, screwed-up Southern sisters come home to Mulberry to put their totally self-centered mother, Mudear, in her grave. We meet the Lovejoy women as they gather in their mother's house to lay her and the demons she has dumped on them to rest. Mudear Lovejoy was the kind of mother who ruled her house and raised her daughters with an iron hand even after her "change." Betty is her oldest daughter, big-boned and strong, the only one who remembers what Mudear was like before The Change. Emily is the middle child, restless and divorced, the one who every one assumed would be the first after Mudear to crack. The youngest is wild Annie Ruth, a TV anchorwoman who is pregnant out of wedlock and plagued by visions of menacing cats. Ernest, their father, is a kaolin mine worker who is so overwhelmed by all the females around him that sometimes he just wants to yell out, "Womens taking over my house!" As the sisters reminisce, they are unaware that even though Mudear's body is laid out in Parkinson Funeral Home, she is not so easily buried. Her spirit refuses to die, and she floats around Mulberry, watching her daughters stretched out on her porch smoking cigarettes, drinking her husband's liquor from her best glasses, and talking about marijuana like "some damn black girl hippies." In alternating voices, each member of the Lovejoy family tells us what preys on his or her mind. As they prepare for the memorial, sit up with the body, and at the funeral itself, each must come to grips with her relationship to Mudear. At the same time, each must define what a mother, a black mother - their mother - is.
Price:
2.50 USD
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Bailey, Pearl Hurry Up, America, and Spit
Harcourt 1976 0151430004 / 9780151430000 First Edition Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Near-new copy of this 1976 First Edition (so-stated) - NO remainder marks or price clippings - tight spine - Bright pages. Tight spine - Bright pages. NO writing, marks or tears inside book.
Price:
5.00 USD
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Bak, Richard Joe Louis: The Great Black Hope
Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. Taylor Publishing 1996 0878339140 / 9780878339143 Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
A photo of this book is available. Like-new condition. Appears unread. NO remainder marks or price clippings. Price inside dustcover: $21.95. Number line: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. NO writing, marks or tears. 315 pages. Illustrated with photos. Synopsis When Joe Louis (1914-1981) knocked out the German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938 in two minutes and four seconds, the entire nationvblack and whitevcelebrated the "fight of the century" as a victory of the United States against the ominous tide of Nazism. Never had an African-American received such universal praise across racial lines. Heavyweight champion for a record twelve years from 1937 to 1949, Louis opened the doors for such future black athletes as Jackie Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali.Joe Louis depicts the prizefighter's life, and the times in which he lived, from his childhood in a sharecropper's cabin in Alabama and his formative years in Detroit, to his legendary career, his service in the Army, his stint as a professional wrestler after retiring from boxing in 1951, and his professional demise as an official greeter for a Las Vegas casino. Along the way, Richard Bak compassionately, yet evenhandedly, details Louis's private vices: incessant womanizing, reckless spending habits, massive debts to the IRS, and drug abuse. Filled with over one hundred photographs, including twenty-two in color, Joe Louis is the most comprehensive portrait yet written of one of the greatest African-American heroes who used his fists figurativelyvand literallyvto fight racism. Annotation More than a simple biography, Joe Louis provides an in-depth look at what constitutes a "hero" in America's black community. As much as any drug store sit-in, civil rights march, or Senate Hill bill, Louis' fists figuratively and literally demolished the myth of white supremacy; his quiet dignity and unquestioned patriotism opened the door for the wave of black athletes who followed him. 32 pages of photos, many in color. Dallas Morning News [This] work takes its place with those excellent boxing histories that are as much about American culture and sociology as they are about sports. Biography Richard Bak, a native of Detroit, is the author of eight books, including the critically acclaimed Lou Gehrig: An American Genius and Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times.
Price:
9.28 USD
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Baldwin, James Go Tell It On The Mountain
The Universal Library Grosset & Dunlap 1953 Trade Paperback Near-Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Near-fine condition. NO writing, marks or tears inside book - Tight spine - Bright pages - NO remainder marks or price clippings. 303 pages.
Price:
2.50 USD
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Baldwin, James Going to Meet the Man
The Dial Press 1965 First Edition Hard Cover Near-Fine Very Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Very-nice, clean copy of this collectible book. Dustcover has been price-clipped (inside top-front flap) Book is in near-fine condition. Black cloth binding, yellow ink spine labels, black, red and taupe spine lettering, taupe facsimile author signature front cover, orange/red endpapers, yellow top-stain, deckled fore-edge.. Back dustcover shows a full-page photo of Baldwin. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. Tight spine - Bright pages - 249 pages - NO remainder marks. Contents: The Rockpile, The Outing, The Man Child, Previous Condition, Sonny's Blues; This Morning, This Evening, So Soon; Come Out the Wilderness, Going to Meet the Man.
Price:
25.00 USD
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15 |
Baldwin, James No Name in the Street
The Dial Press 1972 Hard Cover Fine Very Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Very-nice, clean copy of this 1972 James Baldwin book. Dustcover shows mild wear and 1 small tear along top-front-edge. NO remainder marks or price clippings. Price inside dustcover: $5.95. Full-page photo of the author on back cover. Stated Second Printing. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. 197 pages. Tight spine - Bright pages.
Price:
15.00 USD
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Ball, Edward The Sweet Hell Inside: A Family History
William Morrow & Co 2001 068816840X / 9780688168407 Hard Cover Very Good + Very Good + Ex-Library 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
This is a very-nice ex-libris book - Although ex-libris, there are ONLY 2 small marks inside book which indicate same - Inner pages are free from writing, marks and tears - Bright pages - Tight spine - Illustrated with photos - 384 pages - Stated First Edition - Price inside dustcover: $27.00 - The explosion of the memoir form in recent years has led to a deluge of family histories. But Edward Ball's fascinating book is something different. It tells the epic story of the Harleston family of Charleston, South Carolina -- relatively affluent mixed-race blacks who trace their roots to the illicit relationship between a plantation heir and his slave, and are distantly related to Ball, a white southerner by birth. Through interviews with Edwina Harleston Whitlock, the genteel grandmother who unlocks the secrets of the Harleston archives, Ball interweaves the rich and sometimes tragic family history along with the broad sweep of contemporary events, from the Civil War and Reconstruction through the First World War and Jim Crow laws. As members of the mixed-race elite, the Harlestons occupied a strange interstitial zone between resentful blacks and snobbish whites -- a zone that was especially well defined in conservative Charleston. They viewed themselves as part of the "talented tenth," following W.E.B. Du Bois's conception of a small group of privileged African Americans leading the rest. But this promoted a fortress mentality and "more than its share of anxiety and wounded pride." It was the "sweet hell inside" of the book's title: a defiant sense of permanent exclusion from both camps, which governed relations between the family and those around it. The family ran several funeral homes in and around Charleston, but several of its members pushed out into unfamiliar territory. "From their beginnings as the discarded children of a case of 'miscegenation,' the Harleston family rose to play strange and wonderful roles in the American pageant," Ball writes. Edwin "Teddy" Harleston, Edwina's melancholy grandfather, became a well-regarded portrait painter who worked alongside his photographer wife. When Teddy entered Boston's Museum School in 1906, he was one of a handful of serious black art students in the United States. He later returned to Charleston to work in the family business and founded a local chapter of the NAACP. Edmund "Jenks" Jenkins was a classically trained composer who played in the jazz bands of 1920s Paris. Another Harleston relative ran a Charleston orphanage that became famous for its associated musical group, the Jenkins Orphanage Band, which toured Europe and sent several alumni into the New York jazz scene. While chronicling the rich history of the Harlestons in staggering detail -- thanks to archival research and diligent perusal of letters and scrapbooks -- Ball offers interesting disquisitions on everything from the etymology of the word "jazz" to the process of embalming a cadaver. The Sweet Hell Inside is itself a fascinating attempt to preserve an unusual slice of the American experience -- in all its painful ambivalence.
Price:
2.95 USD
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17 |
Banks, Leslie E. Soul Food: Through Thick and Thin
Pocket Star Book 2003 0739433288 / 9780739433287 Hard Cover Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Previous owner's name in book front & back - on blank pages. No other marks or writing. Based on the television series SOUL FOOD. Based upon the characters created for the motion picture, SOUL FOOD, written by George Tillman, Jr.
Price:
5.00 USD
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Beam, Joseph (Editor) In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology
Alyson Pubns 1986 0932870732 / 9780932870735 Trade Paperback Good 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Good condition. NO remainder marks or clippings. Illustrated. Covers are clean (NO tears). NO writing or tears inside book. Tight spine. 255 pages. Synopsis In the Life, an expression which means being gay, is also the title of this collection of writings in which more than 25 black authors explore what it means to be doubly different - both black and gay - in modern America. These stories, verses, works of art, and theater pieces voice the concerns and aspirations of an often silent minority. They can be poignant, erotic, resolute or angry, but always reflect the affirming power of coming together to build a strong black gay community. Editor Joseph Beam began collecting this material in 1984 after years of frustration with gay literature that had no message for - and little mention of - black gay men. "The bottom line," he wrote, "is this: We are Black men who are proudly gay. What we offer is our lives, our love, our visions... We are coming home with our heads held up high." Annotation Here, thirty-three writers and artists explore what it means to be doubly different--black and gay--in modern America.
Price:
3.78 USD
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19 |
Bego, Mark Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul
St Martins Pr 1989 0312028636 / 9780312028633 First Edition Hard Cover Near-Fine Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Very-nice copy of this 1989 hardback. Stated First Edition - Price inside dustcover: $18.95 - NO remainder marks or price clippings - 340 pages - Illustrated with photos. The very-first page has been removed (most-likely, blank) NO tears inside book. NO writing or marks inside book. - "With her inspiring five-octave voice and unrestrained stage style, Aretha Franklin has enjoyed a career of legendary proportions - she has earned seventeen Grammy Awards and was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Behind the passionate, heartfelt emotions in Aretha's songs lie the challenges she has faced in her personal life: desertion by her mother at age six, a teenage pregnancy, the shooting that led to the death of her father, several unhappy marriages, and the severe illness of her sister. Although these shattering encounters with tragedy and crisis have earned her the right to sing the blues, Aretha's vibrant, soul-stirring hits such as "Respect" and "Think," "Chain of Fools" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," attest to her amazing strength as a survivor." "The first and only book to offer a revealing no-holds-barred portrait of the beloved Queen of Soul, including her personal and professional challenges and triumphs of the last decade, Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul is the definitive biography celebrating the life and achievements of the uncompromising diva who captivated the music world to become an undisputed superstar."
Price:
5.00 USD
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Behn, Aphra Oroonoko Or, The Royal Slave
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. W W Norton & Co Inc 1973 0393007022 / 9780393007022 Trade Paperback Near-Fine 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Near-fine copy. NO writing, marks or tears - Tight spine - Bright pages. NO remainder marks or price clippings. An influential seventeenth-century fable, by a pathbreaking woman writer, about the fall of a black prince. The first woman in England to make her living by writing, Aphra Behn (1640-1689) combines memoir, exotic travel narrative, and romance to tell the story of the noble Oroonoko, a black man who begins life as a prince and ends it as a slave. The tale depicts the overthrow of a hero by a civilization that considers itself superior to him. Taken up by reformers in the long battle against the slave trade, reprinted and imitated countless times, Oroonoko remains a popular tale that introduces powerful themes onto the literary stage.
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2.50 USD
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