African American English

Wendell Berry has never been afraid to speak up for the dispossessed. The Need to Be Whole continues the work he began in The Hidden Wound (1970) and The Unsettling of America (1977), demanding a careful exploration of this hard, shared truth: The wealth of the mighty few governing this nation has been built on the unpaid labor of others.

Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. Here, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Lucinda, LaMeka, Charice, and Trinity are best friends who all have suffered the perils of teen pregnancy. With their dreams and ambitions on hold, they struggle to find themselves and survive this game called life. Despite their efforts, the decisions they make create more trouble, and the consequences prove to be costlier than they ever could have imagined.

In Bodyminds Reimagined Sami Schalk traces how Black women's speculative fiction complicates the understanding of bodyminds - the intertwinement of the mental and the physical - in the context of race, gender, and (dis)ability. Bridging Black feminist theory with disability studies, Schalk demonstrates that this genre's political potential lies in the authors' creation of bodyminds that transcend reality's limitations.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s account of the first successful large-scale application of nonviolent resistance in America is comprehensive, revelatory, and intimate. King described his book as "the chronicle of 50,000 Negroes who took to heart the principles of nonviolence, who learned to fight for their rights with the weapon of love, and who, in the process, acquired a new estimate of their own human worth."

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from a tragedy. But on his first night there, he accidentally ripps open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.

The story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the 18th century. Even at her birth, the slave women around her recognize a dark power that they - and she - will come to both revere and fear. The Night Women, as they call themselves, have long been plotting a slave revolt, and as Lilith comes of age and reveals the extent of her power, they see her as the key to their plans.

In the business of high-end, no-limits desire, Desdemona Dean is the best there is. She fiercely protects the women who work for her and helps them attain the lives they deserve - especially when it comes to her beautiful, troubled new protege, Portia. But for Desi, having it all is no longer enough. She wants everything her shattered childhood denied her. And as she pursues an education and a normal life, she's falling hard for her handsome tutor - and can't resist schooling him in ways that are turning into more than just passion.

Nobody ever gave Jamil Rock anything - much less hope. To survive a rough home life and one bad break after another, he became his hood's most successful drug dealer. With loyal friends at his back, Jamil coolly takes care of business and never thinks too far ahead - until Gia Ellis walks into his life. Suddenly, ruling the streets is nothing compared to the instant heat, and alluringly innocent aura, Jamil can't resist....

In the wake of a major loss, five sisters agree to meet on the regular to keep it real. But secrets they never saw coming will challenge them and everything they counted on. Savvy and decisive, Burgundy Reeves feels blessed with a good husband and a successful career. She is the sister everyone envies. Since her beloved mother's death, she's given troubled youngest sister, Elyse, a stable home when she needs it most. And she's taken it on herself to keep her contentious siblings together.

Tyesha Couvillier will never forget the rip-offs and brutal treatment she endured as a sex worker. So as the new director of the groundbreaking Lower East Side Women's Health Clinic, she'll take on the Ukranian mob and corrupt strip club bosses to stop local exotic dancers from being pressured into selling sex. And if she and her crew can pull off an elaborate heist, the evidence they steal could upend this vicious game - and give exploited women a chance at justice.

Just like any dysfunctional family reunion, loyalty, love, and good times soon turn to bitterness, regret, and promises to never see one another again. At the end of the day, the Banks sisters are no different from any other family in the city of Richmond - other than the fact that they are rotten to the core. Sure, the girls are bonded by DNA, but they're also tied together because of their past of robbing banks, extortion, drug dealing, and even cold-blooded murder. However, that bond means absolutely nothing to them.

Single Ladies is back! Get ready to deal with the drama of baby daddies, side chick issues, divorce, child custody, child support, medical issues, money problems, infidelity, lust, in-laws, jobs, law enforcement, incarceration, and everything else that comes along with being a Single Lady in the hood! Tammy, Falisha, Kim, and Lisa return, with new issues and old relationships threatening each lady's happiness.

Starrshima Fields, aka Starr, is a young, bodacious, and bold beauty. She is also the leader of the Double G's, a powerful and ruthless social club of plus-sized women. Starr is guided by Queen Fem, the founder of the Double G's. Queen Fem set up the group of professionals-by-day, gangster-biker-chicks-by-night to prove that this isn't just a man's world. The Double G's put the squeeze on their primary targets: men of power and privilege. Blackmail and manipulation are their choice of weapons, and they are skillful in both.

David Champlin is a Black man born into poverty in Depression-era New Orleans who achieves great success and then sacrifices everything to lead his people in the difficult, day-by-day struggle of the civil rights movement. Sara Kent is the beloved and vital White girl who loved David from the moment she first saw him, but they struggled over David's belief that a marriage for them would not be right in the violent world he had to confront.

Meet Anthony Stone, one of the best detectives that New York City has ever seen. He lives by the motto shoot first and ask questions never. Stone's life changes when his lieutenant assigns him to a bank robbery case. His job is to take down four ruthless and vicious bank robbers who will do anything to stay alive, and more importantly, stay out of jail. The leader of the bank robbers is a man that goes by the name Ghost. When it comes to money, Ghost and his team will do anything it takes to get it, even if that means taking innocent lives.

Eight years after moving away from her hometown of Miami, Cherokee is back home to take care of her sickly grandmother. While trying to stay low and off the scene, she puts all her focus into her job and her family. That is, until the man who broke her heart many years ago unexpectedly walks into her life once again.

Asim Nour is the type of man who appreciates life and all that it has to offer. He’s been in the streets for years and is now realizing the benefit of building his legal status as well. Both worlds keep him busy and his pockets full. As much as he appreciates his status, the women appreciate it more. Kyori Spencer is the type of woman who takes full advantage of all life has to offer. Even if it’s not by way of her own bank account. It just so happens that the man she committed herself to, has loosely committed himself to several other women. When is enough, enough?

He's rich, successful - and has been faithfully married to his longtime girlfriend for nearly one grueling year. Because for Dr. Dorian Graham, too many women is never too much - no matter how loyal his wife, Shantae, has been since their college days. So when she proposes they celebrate their first anniversary by each spending a no-questions-asked, no-consequences night with their greatest temptation, Dorian is shocked, but can't resist. Especially since Shantae's wild-card younger sister, Reagan, is gorgeous, uninhibited - and the one who got away.

It is impossible to imagine New Orleans, and by extension American history, without the vibrant and singular Creole culture. In the face of an oppressive white society, members of the Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle built a community and held it together through the era of slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow terrorism. Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood follows Ludger Boguille, his family, and friends through landmark events that shaped New Orleans and the United States.