Don't Miss Lists and Other Reading Resources

African American Culture: Books Published 2008 to Present

Arts & Music | Biography | Civil Rights, Politics & Race Relations | Food/Health & Fitness | History | Law | Literature & Poetry | Money/Finance/Work | Psychology & Religion | Reference Resources | Social Life & Customs | Sports

Arts and Music

• Baraka, Amiri. Digging: the Afro American Soul of American Classical Music. University of California, 2009.
  Hooks, Bell. Reel to Real: Race, Class and Sex at the Movies. Routledge, 2009.
  Cohodas, Nadine. Princess Noire:The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone. Random House, 2009
• Evans, Joe. Follow Your Heart: Moving with the Giant of Jazz, Swing, and Rhythm and Blues. University of Illinois Press, 2008. e
  Ferris, William. Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. Univ. of North Carolina, 2009
• Forbes, Camille F. Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America's First Black Star. Basic Civitas, 2008.
• Gavin, James. Stormy Weather: the Life of Lena Horne. Atria, 2009
• Goldstein, Nancy. Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartonnist. University of Michigan, 2008.
  Heath, Jimmy and Joseph McLaren. I Walked with Giants: the Autobiography of Jimmy Heath. Temple University Press, 2010 (on order)
  
• Hinton, Milt. Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton's Life inStories and Photographs.Vanderbilt University, 2008.
• Jones, Qunicy. The Complete Qunicy Jones: My Journey and Passions. Insight Editions, 2008
• Kirby, David. Little Richard: the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll. Continuum, 2009.
• Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis. ed. by Paul Maher, Jr. and Michael K. Door. Lawrence Hill Books, 2009.
• Pate, Alexs. In the Heart of the Beat: the Poetry of Rap. Scarecrow Press, 2020
• Peretti, Burton W. Lift Every Voice : The Historyof African American Music. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009 .
• Reid, Tim and Tom Dreesen. Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White. University of Chicago, 2008
  Sandke, Randall. Where the Dark and Light Folks Meet: Race and the Mythology, Politics,and Business of Jazz. Scarecrow Press, 2010
• Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Pictoring the Promise. ed. by Paul Gardullo and others. Smithsonian, 2009
• Sullivan, James. The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America. Gotham: Penguin Group, 2008.
  Teachout, Terry. Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. Hougnton, 2009.
• Thompson, Barbara, ed. Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body. University of Washington Press, 2008.

Biography

• Brown, Willie. Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times. Simon & Schuster, 2008.
• Goldstein, Nancy. Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist. Universityof Michigan, 2008
• Goodison, Lorna. From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People. Harper Collins, 2008
• Grant, Colin. The Negro with a Hat: the Rise and Fall of Marcus. Oxford, 2008.
• Grier, Pam. Foxy: a Life in Three Acts. Springboard, 2010 (on order)
• Harris, Leonard  and Charles Molesworth. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. University of Chicago, 2008
  Johnson, Soshana. I'm Still Standing: Memoirs of a Woman Soldier Held Captive in Iraq. Simon & Schuster, 2010
  Kelley, Robin D.G. Thelonius Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original. Free Press, 2009
  
• Lee, Barbara. Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me. Rowan & Littlefield, 2008
• Marshall, Paule. Triangular Road: a Memoir. BasicCivitas Books, 2008
• McQuillar, Tanyannah Lee. Tupac Shakur: The Life of An American Icon. Da Capo, 2010 (on order)
• Mundy, Liza. Michelle: A Biography. Simon & Schuster, 2008
• Rose, Tony. Before the Legend. The Rise of New Kids on the Block and...a Guy Named Maurice Starr: the Early Years, an Unauthorized Biography. Colossus: Amber, 2008
• Stringer, C. Vivian. Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph. Crown, 2008.
  Teachout, Terry. Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. Houghton Mifflin , 2009

Civil Rights, Politics & Race

• The American Journey of Barack Obama. Life, editors. Little  Brown & Co., 2008
• Baker, Houston A., Jr. The Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. Columbia University, 2008.
• Bay, Mia. To Tell the Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B. Wells. Hill & Wang: Farrar, 2009
• Berry, Mary Frances. And Justice for All: the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Contiinuing  Struggle for Freedom in America. Knopf, 2009
• Cobb, Charles B. On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Movement. Algonquin, 2008 .
• Dyson, Michael Eric. April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How it Changed America. Basic Civitas, 2008.
• Ethridge, Eric. Breach of  Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders. Atlas and Company, 2008.
• Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950. WWW Norton, 2008.
  Haas, Jeffery. The Assassination of Fred Hamton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther. Lawrence Hill Books, 2009
  Hertzberg, Hendrik. Obamanos!: the Birth of a New Political Era. Penguin, 2009
  
• Ifil, Gwen. The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Random, 2009
• Iton, Richard. In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Oxford, 2008.
• Johnson, Charles. Remembering Marting Luther King, Jr.: His Life and Crusade in Pictures.Time Life, 2008
• Joseph, Peniel E. Dark Days, Bright Nights: from Black Power to Barack Obama. Basic/Civitas, 2009.
• Kennedy, Randall. Sellout: the Politics of Racial Disloyalty. Pantheon, 2008.
  La Nier, Carlotta Walls. and Lisa Frazier Page. A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School. Random House, 2009.
  
• Lee, Barbara. Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congressswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008
  Lewis, Andy B. The Shadows of Youth: the Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation. Hill & Wang, 2010
  
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia. ed. by Clayborne Carson. Greenwood Press, 2008.
  Plouffe, David. The Audacity to Win: the Inside Story and Lessons ob Barack Obama's Historic Victory. Viking, 2009
  Rieder, Jonathan. The Word of the Lord is Upon Me: the Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Belknap Press, 2008.
• Sitkoff, Howard. King: Pilgrijmage to the Mountaintop. Hill & Wang, 2008
• Steele, Shelby. A Bound Man:Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. Free Press, 2008.
• Thomas, Evan. A Long Time Coming: the Inspiring, Compative, 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama . PublicAffairs, 2009
• Washinton, Margaret. Sojourner Truth's America. University of Illinois, 2008
• Willis, Deborah and Kevin Merida. Obama: the Historic Campaign in Photographs. Amistad: HarperCollins, 2008

Food/Health/Fitness

• Fornay, Alfred with Yvonne Rose. Ageless Beauty: The Skin Care and Make-Up Guide for Women and Teens of Color. Amber, 2010 (On order)
  Heart of the Matter: Essential Advice for a Healthy Heart from Renowned Surgeons and Cardiologists. Hilton Pub, 2008.
  
• Neely, Patrick. Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook. Knopf, 2009
• Skloot, Rebecca. Immmortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishers, 2010
• Terry, Bryant. Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African American Cuisine. Da Capo Long Life, 2009.
• Williams, Terri. Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting; Real Talk for When There' s Nowhere to Go but Up. Scribner, 2008.

History

• Ash, Stephen V. Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of the Two Black Regiments that Changed the Course of the Civil War. W.W. Norton, 2008.
• Bandele, Asha. Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother's Story. HarperCollins, 2009
• Barnes, Harper. Never Been a Time: The 1917 Race Riots that Sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Walker and Company, 2008.
  Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America: the Four Great Migrations. Viking, 2010.
• Berry, Bertice. The Ties that Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory, and Redemption. Broadway Books, 2009.
• Blackmon, Douglas A. Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War 11. Doubleday, 2008.
• Casper, Scott E. Sarah Johnson's Mount Vernon: the Forgotten History of an American Shrine. Hill&Wang, 2008.
• Coates, Ta-Nehisi. The Beautiful Struggle: a Father, Two Sons, and the Unlikely Road to Manhood. Speigel & Grau, 2008. C632c
• Cross, Wilbur. Gullah Culture in America. Praeger, 2008.
• DeRamus, Betty. Freedom by Any Means: Con Games, Voodoo Schemes, True Love, and Lawsuits on the Underground Railroad. Atria, 2009.
• DeWolf, Thomas Norman. Inheriting the Trade: Politics and Popular Cultue in the Post- Civil Rights Era. Beacon, 2008.
• Dray, Philip. Capitol Men: the Epic Story of Reconstruction through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen. Houghton Mifflin, 2008
• Du Bois, W.E.B. The Gift of Black Folk: the Negroes in the Making of America. Square One, 2009
• Egerton, Douglas R. Death or Liberty: African - Americans and Revolutionary America. Oxford, 2009
• Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Eugene Genevose. Slavery in White and Black: Class and Race in Southern Slaverholders' New World Order. Cambridge University, 2008.
• Funderburg, Lise. Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home. Free Press, 2008
• Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. In Search of Our Roots: African American Lives. Random House, 2008 .
• Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. , ed. The New Negro: Readings on Race Representation and African American Culture, 1892-1938. Princeton, 2007.
• Gerzina, Gretchen Holbrook. Mr. & Mrs Prince: How an Extraordinary Eighteenth-Centuiry Family Moved out of Slavery and Into Legend. Amistad:HarperCollins, 2008.
• Giddings, Paula. Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaing Against Lynching. HarperCollins, 2008.
• Goodwin, Robert. Crossing the Continent: the Story of the First African - American Explorer of the American South. HarperCollins, 2008
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: an American Family. W.W. Norton, 2008
  Harris, Middleton A., etc., eds.. The Black Book: 35th Anniversary Edition. Random House, 2009.
  Ifil, Gwen. The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Random, 2009
  
• Keith, LeeAnn. The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power , White Terror, and the End of Reconstruction. Oxford, 2008.
• Kendrick, Paul and Stephen Kendrick. Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union. Walker, 2008
• Lane, Charles. The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betryal of Reconstruction. Holt, 2008.
• Let Noboby Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology, 2nd ed. ed. by Manning Marable and Leith Mullings. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009
  Manegold, C.S. Ten Hills Farm: the Forgotten History of Slavery in the North. Princenton University, 2010.
  Miller, William Lee. President Lincoln: the Duty of a Statesmen. Knopf, 2008.
• Moye, Todd J. Freedom Flyers: the Tuskegee Airmen in World War 11. Oxford, 2010 ( on order)
• NAACP 100: Celebrating a Century: 100 Years in Pictures. Gibbs Smith, 2009
• Ravage, John W. Black Pioneers: Images of the Black Experience on the North American Frontier, 2nd ed. University of Utah, 2008..
  Rawn, James, Jr. Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation., Bloomsbury, 2010
  
• Sernett, Milton. Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History. Duke, 2008.
  Smith Jessie Carney and Linda T. Wynn. Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience. Visible Ink, 2009 
• Stauffer, John. Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Twelve, 2008
• Ward, Andrew. The Slave's War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves. Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

Law/Legal

• Holton, Hugh. The Thin Black Line: True Stories by Black Law Enforcement Police Officers Policing America's Meanest Streets.Forge, 2009
  James, Rawn. Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and the Struggle to End Segregation. Bloomsbury Press, 2010.

Literature and Poetry

• The African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs, and Stories. ed. by Kai Wright. Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009 .
• Angelou, Maya. Letter to My Daughter. Random House, 2008
• Best African American Essays, 2010. ed. by Gerald Early and Debra J. Dickerson, eds. Bantam, 2009
• Best African American Fiction, 2010. ed. by Gerald Early and E. Lynn Harris, eds. Bantam, 2010
• Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. ed. by Camille T. Dungy. Univ. of Georgia, 2009. (On order)
  
• Bliss, Eula. Notes from No Man's Land. Graywolf, 2009.
• Boyd, Herbert. Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin. Atria Books, 2008.
• Giovanni, Nikki. Bicycles: Love Poems. Morrow, 2009
• Harmon, Byron. God Gave Me Some Bad Advice: Growing Up, Going to War, and Making it in America. Bolden: Agate, 2008
• It's All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family and Friends.  ed. by Marita  Golden,   Broadway Books, 2009
• Johnson, James Weldon. The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson. Modern Library, 2008
• Li, Stephanie. Toni Morrison: A Biography. Greenwoood, 2009 ( on order)
• Morrison, Toni. What Moves at the Margins: Selected Nonfiction. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2008.
  Sanchez, Sonia. Morning Haiku. Beacon Press, 2010.
  
• Wilson, Ronaldo V. Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man. Univ. of Pittsburgh, 2008

Money/Finance/Work

• 
  Rose, Yconne and Tony Rose. Is Modeling for You? The Handbook and Guide for the Young Aspiring Black Woman. Amber, 2010 (on order)

Psychology and Religion

• Bird, Stephanie Rose. The Big Book of Soul: the Ulitmate Guide to the African American Spirit. Hampton Roads Pubs, 2009 (On order)
• Collier-Thomas, Bettye. Jesus, Jobs, and Justice:The History of African American Women and Religion. Random House, 2010, (on order)
  Jakes, T.D. Before You Do: Making Great Decisions that You Won't Regret. Atria Books, 2008
  Newman, Richard S. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and The Black Founding Fathers. New York University, 2008
  Noll, Nick. God and Race in American Politics: A Short History. Princeton University Press, 2008.
  
• Savage, Barbara Diane. Your Spirits Walk Beside Us: the Politics of Black Religion. Harvard, 2008.
• Seals-Allers, Kimberly Seals. The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profits: How to Find Your Hustle Side in Any Economy. HarperCollins, 2009

Reference Resources

African American National Biography, 8 vols. ed. by Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham. Oxford, 2008. *920.009296073 Af83aa

Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. by Office of History & Preservation, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives., U.S. G.P.O, 2008.
*328.7309236073 B561b

Social Life and Customs

• Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness. New Press, 2010
  Asante, Molefi K. It's Bigger than Hip-Hop: the Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation. St. Martin's Press, 2008
  
• Baraka, Amiri. Home: Social Essays. Consortium Book Sales Dist., 2009
• Baszille, Jennifer. The Black Girl Next Door. Simon & Schuster, 2009
• Blackmon, Thomas A.  Slavery by Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans in America from the Civil War to World War 11. Doubleday, 2008
  
• Boehm, Lisa Krissoff. Making a Way Out of No Way: African American Women and the Second Great Migration. University Press of Mississippi, 2009.
  Boyd, Gerald M. My Times in Black and White: Race and Power at the New York Times. Lawrence Hill, 2010.
• Bracey, Christopher Alan. Saviors or Sellout: The Promise and Peril of Black Conservatism, from Booker T. Washington to Condoleezza Rice.Beacon, 2008.
• Canedy, Dana and Charles Monroe King. A Journal for Jordan. Crown, 2008
  Davies, Sharon. Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America. Oxford, 2010
  
• DeWolf, Thomas Norman. Inheriting the Trade: a Northern Family Confronts Its legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History. Beacon, 2008.
  Dyson, Michael Eric. Can You Hear Me Now: the Inspiration, Wisdom, Insight of Michael Eric Dyson. Basic Civitas Books, 2009.
• Edelman, Marian Wright. The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is so Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation. Hyperion, 2008.
• Elder, Larry. Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card -and Lose. St. Martin Press, 2008.
• Field, Ron and Alexander Bielakowski. Buffalo Soliders: African American Troops in the U.S. Forces, 1866-1945. Osprey Publishing, 2008
• Freedom in My Heart: the United States National Slaveryt Museum. ed. by Cynthia J. Carter. National Geographic, 2008
• Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn. To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.
• Hodari, Askhari Johnson and Yvonne McCalla Sobers. Lifelines: the Black Book of Proverbs. Broadway, 2009 (on order)
  Izrael, Jimi. The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can't Find Good Black Men. St. Martin, 2010 ( On order)
  King, Gilbert. The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South. Basic, 2008.
• Kushner, David. Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon, and the Fight for Civil Rights in America's Legendary Suburb. Walker, 2009
• Letters from Black America. ed. by Pamela Newkirk. Farrar, 2009
• Noguera, Pedro A. The Trouble with Black Boys...and Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education. John Wiley, 2008.
• Norrell, Robert J. Up from History: the Life of Booker T. Washington. Harvard/Belknap, 2009
  Paige, Rod and Elaine Witty. The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing it is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time. AMA, 2010.
  
• Rich, John A. Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men. John Hopkins, 2009
  
• Roediger, David R. How Race Survived U.S History: from Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon. Verso, 2008
• Rose, Tricia. The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk about When We Talk about Hip Hop. Basic/Civitas, 2008
• Sandweiss, Martha A. Passing Strange: A Gilded  Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line. Penguin, 2009
• Satter, Beryl. Family Properties: Race, Real Estate , and the Exploitation of Balck Urban America. Holt/Metropolitan, 2009
• Smith, Frances Smith. 'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America. Oxford, 2009 (on order)
  
• Tough, Paul. Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America. Houghton Mifflin, 2008
• Walker, Clarence E. Mogrel Nation: the America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Univ. of Virginia, 2009.
• Walker, Hersche. Breaking Free. Simon & Schuster, 2008
• Wilmore, Larry. I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts. Hyperion, 2009
• Wilson, William J. More Than Just Race: Being Back and Poor in America. Norton, 2009
  Womack, Ytasha L. Post Black: How a New Generation is Redifining African American Identity. Lawrence Hill, 2010 (on order)

Sports

• Balf, Todd. Major: A Black Athletic, a White Era, and the Fight to Be the World's Fastest Human Being. Crown Publishers, 2008.
  
• Bird, Larry and Earvin Magic Johnson with Jackie MacMullen. When the Game Was Ours. Houghton Marcourt, 2009
  Bradburd, Rus. Forty Minutes of Hell: the Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson. Amistad, 2010 (on order)
  
• Donovan, Brian. Hard Driving: The Wendel Scott Story; the American Odyssey of NASCAR's First Black Driver. Steerforth, 2008.
• Gallagher, Robert. The Express: the Ernie Davis Story. Ballantine Books, 2008.
  Haygood, Wil. Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson. Knopf, 2009.
  
• Hirsch, James S. Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend. Scribner, 2010
• Johnson, James W. The Dandy Dons: Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Phil Woolpert, and One of Basketball's Greatest and Most Innovative Teams. Univ. Of Nebraska, 2009.
• Leslie, Lise. Don't Let the Lipstick Fool You. Dafina, 2008
  
• Mallozzi, Vincent M. Doc: The Rise and Rise of Julius Erving. Wiley, 2009

For more African-American titles, see our other lists: African-American Culture: A Retrospective Reading List to 2007, African-American Fiction, or African Americans in Madison and Dane County.

Rev. 2/2010

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