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  • Adult Speculative Fiction Subscription
    $17.00

    Do you enjoy imagining radical and frightening fantasy worlds and futures? Then this subscription is for you! With this subscription, expect to receive an assortment of books that explore horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and radical historical fiction, among other speculative fiction genres.

    What you get: A mix of hardcover and paperback frontlist and backlist books.

    Ordering deadline:  Subscription orders placed before the 17th of the month are guaranteed to ship on the first Tuesday of the following month when all subscriptions are shipped.

    Ordering Instructions:  Please select your subscription frequency (monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly) and proceed to checkout.

    Gift subscriptions:  Subscriptions make really great gifts.  Please make sure the shipping address is the correct address for the gift recipient.

    Shipping will be calculated at checkout.  All subscriptions ship via media mail and will arrive within 3-8 business days of the ship date.

  • Adulthood Rites

    by Octavia E. Butler

    $18.99

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    In the future, nuclear war has destroyed nearly all humankind. An alien race intervenes, saving the small group of survivors from certain death. But their salvation comes at a cost.

    The Oankali are able to read and mutate genetic code, and they use these skills for their own survival, interbreeding with new species to constantly adapt and evolve. They value the intelligence they see in humankind but also know that the species -- rigidly bound to destructive social hierarchies -- is destined for failure. They are determined that the only way forward is for the two races to produce a new hybrid species -- and they will not tolerate rebellion.

    Akin looks like an ordinary human child. But as the first true human-alien hybrid, he is born understanding language, then starts to form sentences at two months old. He can see at a molecular level and kill with a touch. More powerful than any human or Oankali, he will be the architect of both races' future. But before he can carry this new species into the stars, Akin must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two.

  • Afeni Shakur : Evolution of a Revolutionary

    by Jasmine Guy

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    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*
    Afeni Shakur, one of the most visible figures in both the hip-hop and civil rights movements, reveals her moral and spiritual development in an innovative memoir spanning four decades.

    Before becoming one of the most well-known members of the Black Power movement, Alice Faye Williams was not unlike any other poor, African American girl growing up in the impoverished South. But when her family moved to New York during the radical sixties, she became intoxicated by the promise of social change. By the time she turned twenty-one, Alice had a new name—Afeni Shakur, derived from the Yoruba term for "lover of people"—and a new vision for the future. The rest is history.

    In 1969, Afeni was arrested along with other members of the Black Panther party on 189 felony charges that included 30 counts of conspiracy. Though she was eventually acquitted of the charges, Afeni spent eleven months in jail before being released. Once on bail, she became pregnant with a son: Tupac Amaru Shakur, a rap megastar until his tragic death in 1996.

    In this searing work, renowned actress and Afeni's trusted friend Jasmine Guy reveals the evolution of a woman through a series of intimate conversations on themes such as love, death, race, drugs, politics, music, and, of course, her son. Filled with startling revelations and heartbreaking truths, Afeni's memoir is a powerful testament to the human spirit and the perseverance of the African American people.
  • Affirmation Cards: How We Heal through Self-Love, Joy, and Manifestation

    by Alexandra Elle

    $19.95

    From bestselling self-care author Alexandra Elle, this empowering deck makes it easy to cultivate confidence, joy, and mindfulness in everyday life.

    Affirmation Cards is a deck of 55 cards, each featuring an uplifting affirmation on the front and a meditation practice on the back. Organized into six categories—Self-Love, Personal Power, Self-Trust, Letting Go, Boundaries, and Healing—these cards are designed to help you tap into moments of peace, clarity, and connection in your day-to-day life. Delivered in a luxe, take-anywhere package, this deck is a gorgeous accessory for wellness enthusiasts, meditators, and fans of Alexandra Elle.

    EXPERT WISDOM: Alexandra Elle is a leading voice in wellness and a New York Times bestselling author. Her work has been featured by a wide range of media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, Good Morning America, Essence, MindBodyGreen, Forbes, among many others. This deck is inspired by the popular affirmations Alex shares with her fans online, offering readers bite-size practices that make it simple to incorporate positivity into daily life.

    EASY SELF-CARE: Brimming with 55 affirming practices, this deck makes it easy to incorporate profound self-care practices into busy days. The portable, on-the-go format makes it the ideal accessory to keep in your bag so that you can pull a card whenever you need a mindful moment.

    BEAUTIFUL TO GIFT AND DISPLAY: Delivered in a stylish, eye-catching package filled with 55 shimmering cards, Affirmation Cards is a beautiful gift for anyone interested in self-discovery, meditation, and mindfulness and a stylish companion for the spiritually curious.

    ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES: This interactive and uplifting deck can be used in a variety of ways: pull one card a day to start your morning with positivity, pull several cards at once to set an intention for the week, or keep a favorite card on the bedside table for everyday encouragement.

    Perfect for:

    • Fans of Alexandra Elle and her popular self-care publishing including How We HealAfter the Rain, and In Courage Journal
    • Meditators, yoga enthusiasts, and anyone interested in self-healing and personal development
    • Birthday, graduation, or wellness gift givers looking for gifts for for poets, writers, healers, caretakers, and all who can benefit from the power of positive thinking
    • Fans of Yung Pueblo, Rupi Kaur, Nedra Tawwab, and the Nap Ministry

  • Affirmations for Black Women: A Journal: 100+ Positive Messages and Prompts to Affirm Your Self-Worth, Empower Your Spirit, & Attract Success

    by Oludara Adeeyo

    $15.99

    Black women are powerful, brilliant, and brave, and it’s time to affirm these truths with more than 100 affirmations and journal prompts Black women can use to empower themselves.

    In a world that perpetuates negative stereotypes about Black women, it’s more important than ever to affirm Black women for their power, brilliance, and bravery. With Affirmations for Black Women: A Journal, Black women will find more than 100 affirmations from their emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing, to the practical, professional, and social aspects of their lives. You’ll also learn specifically why affirmations are essential for Black women in order to heal from the effects of misogynoir, to build up your confidence, to build a self-care practice, and much more. You’ll discover how to apply affirmations to your daily life and use them in order to manifest what you desire and deserve.

    Best of all, you’ll find short prompts after each affirmation to reflect on the affirmation and to take them one step further. Prompts will help you cement the affirmation into your mind, and into your reality as you incorporate them fully into your life. With Affirmations for Black Women: A Journal, you’ll celebrate being a Black woman, affirm your talent and worth, and bring your dreams to fruition.

  • Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin
    $18.99

    An exuberant, opinionated, stereotype-busting portrait of contemporary Africa in all its splendid diversity, by one of its leading new writers.

    So often, Africa has been depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife, stripped of all nuance. In this bold and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, weaving a vibrant tapestry of stories that bring to life Africa’s rich diversity, communities, and histories.

    Starting with an immersive description of the lively and complex urban life of Lagos, Faloyin unearths surprising truths about many African countries’ colonial heritage and tells the story of the continent’s struggles with democracy through seven dictatorships. With biting wit, he takes on the phenomenon of the white savior complex and brings to light the damage caused by charity campaigns of the past decades, revisiting such cultural touchstones as the KONY 2012 film. Entering into the rivalries that energize the continent, Faloyin engages in the heated debate over which West African country makes the best jollof rice and describes the strange, incongruent beauty of the African Cup of Nations. With an eye toward the future promise of the continent, he explores the youth-led cultural and political movements that are defining and reimagining Africa on their own terms.

    The stories Faloyin shares are by turns joyful and enraging; proud and optimistic for the future even while they unequivocally confront the obstacles systematically set in place by former colonial powers. Brimming with humor and wit, filled with political insights, and, above all, infused with a deep love for the region, Africa Is Not a Country celebrates the energy and particularity of the continent’s different cultures and communities, treating Africa with the respect it deserves.

  • Africa Must Unite
    $30.99

    This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

    This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

    Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.

    We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

  • Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

    edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki &

    $19.99

    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*

    From an award-winning team of editors comes an anthology of thirty-two original stories showcasing the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

    A group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. A child robot on a dying planet uncovers signs of fragile new life. A descendent of a rain goddess inherits her grandmother’s ability to change her appearance—and perhaps the world.


    Created in the legacy of the award-winning anthology series Dark Matter, Africa Risen celebrates the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising—it’s already here.

  • Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country 

    by Atinuke

    $21.99

    A Nigerian storyteller explores the continent of Africa country by country: its geography, peoples, animals, history, resources, and cultural diversity. The book is divided into five distinct sections—South, East, West, Central, and North—and each country is showcased on its own bright, energetic page brimming with friendly facts on science, industry, food, sports, music, wildlife, landscape features, even snippets of local languages. The richest king, the tallest sand dunes, and the planet’s largest waterfall all make appearances along with drummers, cocoa growers, inventors, balancing stones, salt lakes, high-tech cities, and nomads who use GPS!

  • AfriCali: Recipes from My Jikoni

    Kiano Moju

    $35.00

    African cuisine is infused with Californian culture to create delicious, unique meals in this beautiful fusion cookbook.

    Kiano Moju was born to a Kenyan mother and a Nigerian father and raised in California. While she spent her summer breaks in Kenya, her home in the states during the school year held African house parties where Nigerian jollof rice, moin moin (steamed bean cakes), roasted chicken legs, and plantains were a common part of life. On weekends and special occasions, they would make Kenyan dishes like samosas, sauteed collard greens, barbecued meat, and other favorites from her childhood including Ethiopian and Eritrean recipes. As Kiano says, “Californian cuisine embraces the flavors of its immigrant communities while celebrating the state’s agriculture and the flavors of fresh produce,” and that’s the concept behind her cooking.

    AfriCali is not a traditional cookbook, but rather one inspired by the delicious meals Kiano has experienced in life. The recipes are unfussy but dedicated to flavor including:

    * Peri Peri Butter
    * Herby Harissa
    * Lentil Nuggets
    * Cherry Tomato Kachumbari
    * Kijani Seafood Pilau
    * Chicken and Okra Wet Fry
    * Berbere Braised Short Ribs
    * Coconut and Cardamom Mandazi
    * Garlic Butter Chapos
    * Pili Pili Pineapple Margarita

    The gorgeous food photography as well as photos from the author’s travels in Africa make this a cookbook like no other. Dive in and enjoy the delicious, unique meals that the whole family will love.

  • African American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities

    Mr. Melvin Mitchell

    $25.00

    Melvin Mitchell believes that the 2016 opening of the NMAAHC signals either a black architect renaissance or the demise of the black architect-practitioner corps in the U.S. by 2040 if not earlier…along with the demise of Black America’s cultural, political, and spatial beachheads in America’s big cities. He argues in this book that America’s perennial housing crisis - most acutely manifested in Black America’s accelerating displacement from America’s cities – must be countered by a new progressive 21st century movement that re-invents the revolutionary construction-based architecture modus operandi deployed 100 years ago by Booker T. Washington. Mitchell believes that Washington completed the build-out of the Tuskegee Institute campus as a counter to America’s building of the “White City” aka the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair-Columbian Exposition 600 miles to the north in Chicago, Illinois. Mitchell argues that the centerpiece of a new “architecture” must realign with the needs of Black America for majorincreases in home and business ownership and wealth creation. That requires a massive “Buy the Block”-type redevelopmentin urban Black America. Today that must entail nothing short of the literal building of at least one million newaffordable housing units in urban Black America by Black America between now and 2030. The means to accomplishsuch a moon shot are there in existing and emerging progressive legislation. The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, the Green New Deal, and the Opportunity Zones Act must all beharnessed with the trillions of available public dollars, private equity funds, and black nouveau rich wealth to createand sustain an African American-dominated urban affordable housing industry. That may not be the answer but is mostcertainly one of several heretofore missing pieces.

  • African American Folk Healing

    by Mireille Miller-Young

    $34.00
    Cure a nosebleed by holding a silver quarter on the back of the neck. Treat an earache with sweet oil drops. Wear plant roots to keep from catching colds. Within many African American families, these kinds of practices continue today, woven into the fabric of black culture, often communicated through women. Such folk practices shape the concepts about healing that are diffused throughout African American communities and are expressed in myriad ways, from faith healing to making a mojo.
    Stephanie Y. Mitchem presents a fascinating study of African American healing. She sheds light on a variety of folk practices and traces their development from the time of slavery through the Great Migrations. She explores how they have continued into the present and their relationship with alternative medicines. Through conversations with black Americans, she demonstrates how herbs, charms, and rituals continue folk healing performances. Mitchem shows that these practices are not simply about healing; they are linked to expressions of faith, delineating aspects of a holistic epistemology and pointing to disjunctures between African American views of wellness and illness and those of the culture of institutional medicine.
  • African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision

    by Tamara L. Brown

    $29.95
    African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision explores the rich past and bright future of the nine Black Greek-Letter organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council. In the long tradition of African American benevolent and secret societies, intercollegiate African American fraternities and sororities have strong traditions of fostering brotherhood and sisterhood among their members, exerting considerable influence in the African American community, and being on the forefront of civic action, community service, and philanthropy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, Arthur Ashe, Carol Moseley Braun, Bill Cosby, Sarah Vaughan, George Washington Carver, Hattie McDaniel , and Bobby Rush are among the many trailblazing members of these organizations. The rolls of African American fraternities and sororities serve as a veritable who's who among African American leadership in the United States and abroad. African American Fraternities and Sororities places the history of these organizations in context, linking them to other movements and organizations that predated them and tying their history to one of the most important eras of United States history―the Civil Rights struggle. African American Fraternities and Sororities explores various cultural aspects of these organizations such as auxilliary groups, branding, calls, stepping, and the unique role of African American sororities. It also explores such contemporary issues as sexual aggression and alcohol use, college adjustment, and pledging, and provides a critique of Spike Lee's film School Daze, the only major motion picture to portray African American fraternities and sororities as a central theme. The year 2006 will mark the centennial anniversary of the intercollegiate African American fraternity and sorority movement. Yet, to date, little scholarly attention has been paid to these organizations and the men and women who founded and perpetuated them. African American Fraternities and Sororities reveals the vital social and political functions of these organizations and places them within the history of not only the African American community but the nation as a whole.
  • African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions

    by Lucretia Van Dyke

    $16.95

    Discover the roots of modern-day herbal remedies, plant medicine, holistic rituals, natural recipes, and more that were created by African American herbal healers throughout history.

    This first-of-its-kind herbal guide takes you through the origins of herbal practices rooted in African American tradition—from Ancient Egypt and the African tropics to the Caribbean and the United States. Inside you’ll find the stories of herbal healers like Emma Dupree and Henrietta Jeffries, who made modern American herbalism what it is today. 

    After rediscovering the forgotten legacies of these healers, African American Herbalism dives into the important contributions they made to the world of herbalism, including: 

    • Rituals for sacred bathing and skin care
    • Herbal tinctures, potions, and medicine 
    • Recipes for healing meals and soul food 
    • And more!
    You’ll also find a comprehensive herbal guide to the most commonly used herbs—such as aloe, lavender, sage, sassafras, and more—alongside gorgeous botanical illustrations. African American Herbalism is the perfect guide for anyone wanting to explore the medicinal and healing properties of herbs.
  • African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song Edited

    by Kevin Young

    $45.00
    A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present.

    Only now, in the 21st century, can we fully grasp the breadth and range of African American poetry: a magnificent chorus of voices, some familiar, others recently rescued from neglect. Here, in this unprecedented anthology expertly selected by poet and scholar Kevin Young, this precious living heritage is revealed in all its power, beauty, and multiplicity.

    Discover, in these pages, how an enslaved person like Phillis Wheatley confronted her legal status in verse and how an antebellum activist like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voiced her own passionate resistance to slavery. Read nuanced, provocative poetic meditations on identity and self-assertion stretching from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Amiri Baraka to Lucille Clifton and beyond. Experience the transformation of poetic modernism in the works of figures such as Langston Hughes, Fenton Johnson, and Jean Toomer. Understand the threads of poetic history—in movements such as the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, Black Arts, Cave Canem, Dark Noise Collective—and the complex bonds of solidarity and dialogue among poets across time and place.

    See how these poets have celebrated their African heritage and have connected with other communities in the African Diaspora. Enjoy the varied but distinctly Black music of a tradition that draws deeply from jazz, hip hop, and the rhythms and cadences of the pulpit, the barbershop, and the street. And appreciate, in the anthology’s concluding sections, why contemporary African American poetry, amply recognized in recent National Book Awards and Poet Laureates, is flourishing as never before.
    Taking the measure of the tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song sets a new standard for a genuinely deep engagement with Black poetry and its essential expression of American genius.
  • African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
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    Since the first African American denomination was established in Philadelphia in 1818, churches have gone beyond their role as spiritual guides in African American communities and have served as civic institutions, spaces for education, and sites for the cultivation of individuality and identities in the face of limited or non-existent freedom.

    In this Very Short Introduction, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. explores the history and circumstances of African American religion through three examples: conjure, African American Christianity, and African American Islam. He argues that the phrase "African American religion" is meaningful only insofar as it describes how through religion, African Americans have responded to oppressive conditions including slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, and the pervasive and institutionalized discrimination that exists today. This bold claim frames his interpretation of the historical record of the wide diversity of religious experiences in the African American community. He rejects the common tendency to racialize African American religious experiences as an inherent proclivity towards religiousness and instead focuses on how religious communities and experiences have developed in the African American community and the context in which these developments took place.

    About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. EveryVery Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

  • African American Religions, 1500-2000

    Sylvester A. Johnson

    $37.00

    This book provides a narrative historical, postcolonial account of African American religions. It examines the intersection of Black religion and colonialism over several centuries to explain the relationship between empire and democratic freedom. Rather than treating freedom and its others (colonialism, slavery, and racism) as opposites, Sylvester A. Johnson interprets multiple periods of Black religious history to discern how Atlantic empires (particularly that of the United States) simultaneously enabled the emergence of particular forms of religious experience and freedom movements as well as disturbing patterns of violent domination. Johnson explains theories of matter and spirit that shaped early indigenous religious movements in Africa, Black political religion responding to the American racial state, the creation of Liberia, and FBI repression of Black religious movements in the twentieth century. By combining historical methods with theoretical analysis, Johnson explains the seeming contradictions that have shaped Black religions in the modern era.

  • African Americans in Nacogdoches County (Images of America)
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    Typical of most communities after the Civil War, Nacogdoches's African Americans had to repurpose their lives by building their own communities while they carved a life of survival first and progress second. The images in this book will tell the stories of the first churches and how they became the center of the community. Other images will share information about the early leaders in the community who helped establish educational facilities for "Negroes." Additional images focus on black businesses, and a final set of images will discuss the emerging black middle class and others who played significant roles in Nacogdoches history. Readers of this book will go on a journey, through images, that highlights residents' pains of struggles and gains of triumph.

  • African Americans of Galveston

    by Tommie D. Boudreaux

    $24.99

    In the 19th century, Galveston shores were a gateway for immigrants to Texas and destinations beyond. Slaves, the forced immigrants, were brought to Galveston as property for sale. The largest slave trade operation in Galveston was implemented by Jean Laffite, a pirate. His slave trade business began around 1818. However, for the most part, slaves entering the port of Galveston were destined for other Texas cities and other states. Images of America: African Americans of Galveston presents the community life and accomplishments of Galveston slaves, the descendants of slaves, and descendants of those who migrated to Galveston after the Civil War. The book celebrates Galveston's African American culture from the 1840s to the 1960s.

  • African Americans of Houston (Images of America)
    $24.99

    Texas is a Southern state, and in many ways, Houston is a typical Southern city. While Houston did not experience the types or degrees of racial violence found in other Southern cities during the Jim Crow era, black Houstonians nonetheless found themselv

  • African Ancient Origins: Stories Of People & Civilization (Flame Tree Collector's Editions)

    Robin Walker

    $14.99

    Beautiful edition taking the reader through the origins and history of African nations and peoples, highlighting the roots of modern fiction in history, myth and fable.

    Africa is a crucible of many civilizations, indeed of humanity. African peoples can be traced back 16,000 years or so to 5 ancestral civilisational groups based on their language families, such as the Nilo-Saharan and the Khoisan. A brand new, accessible and enlightening history by Robin Walker, African Ancient Origins tells the stories of African golden ages, of the key dynasties, individuals, cities, trade and achievements, going back to the first migrations, origin stories and myths. From the Kingdom of Kerma in Sudan to the Zulu Empire, we learn of the many cultures that existed for thousands of years before European invasion, of their complex histories that have left lasting legacies on modern African nations.

    Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.

  • African Art Now: 50 Pioneers Defining African Art for the Twenty-First Century

    by Osei Bonsu

    $55.00

    *Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

    With African artists attracting sizable audience numbers to museums, setting sky-high auction records, and appearing in mainstream press, it has become impossible to overlook the cultural significance of contemporary African art today. Author and curator Osei Bonsu's engaging profiles of leading African artists—along with gorgeous full-color reproductions of their work—introduce readers to a generation of movers and shakers whose innovative artwork reflects on Africa as both an idea and an experience. Using diverse forms, languages, and expressions to articulate what it means to be a part of the world, these artists generate alternate histories and imaginative futures—work that is both personal and political, universal and incredibly specific. Their work helps define contemporary African art as a vast artistic and cultural movement.

    STELLAR ROSTER OF ARTISTS: Amoako Boafo, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Bronwyn Katz—from household names to up-and-coming artists, African Art Now features some of the most exciting artists working today.
    IMPORTANT AND TIMELY: Over the past two decades, contemporary African art has become part of the global mainstream, inspiring countless exhibitions, fairs, and auctions around the world. And yet, African art remains overlooked as an area of dedicated study due to continued academic and cultural bias. This book shines a spotlight on the artists whose wide-ranging accomplishments represent the shifting dynamics and boundless possibilities of African art today.

    Perfect for:

    • Artists, art collectors, art lovers, and museumgoers
    • Educators and students
    • Anyone interested in learning about contemporary African art
  • African Artists: From 1882 to Now

    edited by Phaidon Editors, Joseph L. Underwood, & Chika Okeke-Agulu

    $69.95

    *Ships in 7-10 business days*

    A groundbreaking A-Z survey of the work of over 300 modern and contemporary artists born or based in Africa

    Modern and Contemporary African art is at the forefront of the current curatorial and collector movement in today’s art scene. This groundbreaking new book, created in collaboration with a prestigious global advisory board, represents the most substantial appraisal of contemporary artists born or based in Africa available. Features the work of more than 300 artists, including El Anatsui, Marlene Dumas, David Goldblatt, Lubaina Himid, William Kentridge, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Robin Rhode, as well as lesser-known names from across Africa, with stunning and surprising examples of their art paired with insightful texts that demonstrate their contribution to the painting, sculpture, installation, photography, moving image, and performance art.

  • African Designs from Traditional Sources
    $14.95

    Since the discovery of African art by the Cubists, the primitive strength of its motifs has held a fascination for contemporary artists and designers and has exercised a considerable infl uence on the development of modern art. This book brings together an unusually varied selection of African designs which will find many uses in advertising and in the creation of book designs, bookplates, labels, and patterns for textiles and wallpaper; or may simply serve as inspiration for the creation of original designs. Rendered in stark black-and-white, they may be reproduced, enlarged, reduced or altered at will.
    Symbolic and simple geometric motifs, repetitive designs and textural patterns, representations of human beings, animals and mythical figures, masks, abstract motifs, and artifacts and objects with figural components are reproduced from the work of the Ndebele, Ashanti, Zulu, Masai, Bushongo, Mangbetu, Bariba, Toma, Baule and many other tribes. There are designs from carved ivory pendants and bracelets, helmet masks, wooden combs, altar slabs and shields, and designs printed on cloth and painted on doors and walls. Each is identified by original use, and the source is listed for each.
    Geoffrey Williams, himself a practicing designer, has reproduced most of these designs by means of linocut prints in order to capture the power of the originals. His sources have been artifacts in museums and private collections with a few designs gathered from the pages of important publications on the subject. A bibliography refers the reader not only to the sources of material used for this book, but to other major sources of information about African tribal art.

  • African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa
    from $35.00

    A groundbreaking history that puts early and medieval West Africa in a global context

    Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book, the first on this period of the region’s history in a generation, tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including Arabic manuscripts, oral histories, and recent archaeological findings, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history more generally. Scholars have long held that such distinctions arose during the colonial period, but Gomez shows they developed much earlier.

    Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces the exchange of ideas and influences with North Africa and the Central Islamic Lands by way of merchants, scholars, and pilgrims. Islam’s growth in West Africa, in tandem with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A major preoccupation was the question of who could be legally enslaved, which together with other factors led to the construction of new ideas about ethnicity, race, gender, and caste―long before colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.

    Telling a radically new story about early Africa in global history, African Dominion is set to be the standard work on the subject for many years to come.

  • African Elephant (Young Zoologist): A First Field Guide to the Big-Eared Giant of the Savanna

    by Mireille Miller-Young

    $15.99

    *ships in 7 -10 business days*

    A beautiful first guide to African elephants, part of an exciting new series of animal books.

    Head on safari to the grasslands of Africa to study African elephants in this beautiful nonfiction field guide for kids.

    You might know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, but there’s so much more to learn about these tusked creatures. Turn the pages to find out why the grandmother is in charge of an elephant family, and why big ears help elephants cool down! Meet a baby elephant as it takes its first steps, and discover how to tell the difference between an African elephant and an Asian elephant. The book also looks at the conservation challenges these iconic animals face due to climate change and ivory poaching.

  • African Europeans : An Untold History

    by Mireille Miller-Young

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    A dazzling history of Africans in Europe, revealing their unacknowledged role in shaping the continent

    Conventional wisdom holds that Africans are only a recent presence in Europe. But in African Europeans, renowned historian Olivette Otele debunks this and uncovers a long history of Europeans of African descent.

    From the third century, when the Egyptian Saint Maurice became the leader of a Roman legion, all the way up to the present, Otele explores encounters between those defined as "Africans" and those called "Europeans." She gives equal attention to the most prominent figures—like Alessandro de Medici, the first duke of Florence thought to have been born to a free African woman in a Roman village—and the untold stories—like the lives of dual-heritage families in Europe's coastal trading towns.
  • African Ghost Short Stories

    by Nuzo Onoh

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    Following the hugely successful Black Sci-Fri Short Stories and Asian Ghost Short Stories, comes this deluxe edition of new African writing and tales rooted in ancient culture. This collection explores the deep-seated supernatural element in African storytelling – whether reaching back to the spirits, ancestors and ogres of folklore or the vibrantly modern ghosts of today's African horror. New and contemporary stories complement poignant folktales such as ‘The Story of Takane’ from Lesotho and ‘The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull’ from Nigeria.

    With a foreword by award-winning Nigerian-British writer Nuzo Onoh, an introduction by Prof. Divine Che Neba, and invaluable editorial support from writer and editor Chinelo Onwualu, this latest offering in the Flame Tree Gothic fantasy series delves into the fascinating heritage of African ghostly lore and literature, while allowing it to be reclaimed and retold by contemporary African voices.

    The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

  • African History of Africa, An: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence

    Zeinab Badawi

    $32.50

    Already a major international bestseller, Zeinab Badawi’s sweeping and much-needed survey of African history traces the continent’s extraordinary legacy from prehistory to the present from the African perspective.

    “Equal parts gripping and galvanizing. . . . Researched across more than 30 countries, it brings the dazzling civilizations of pre-colonial Africa vividly to life. A book that feels both long-overdue—and wholly worth the wait.” —British Vogue

    Everyone is originally from Africa, and this book is therefore for everyone.

    For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight.

    In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history—from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. Visiting more than thirty African countries to interview countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers, she unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story.

    The result is a gripping new account of Africa: an epic, sweeping history of the oldest inhabited continent on the planet, told through the voices of Africans themselves.

  • African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History

    by Tracey Baptiste

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    In this expansive collection of history, meet ten real-life kings, queens, inventors, scholars, and visionaries who lived in Africa thousands of years ago and changed the world.

    Black history begins thousands of years ago with the many cultures and people of the African continent. Through portraits of ten heroic figures, bestselling author Tracey Baptiste takes readers on an empowering, energetic journey through time to meet some of the great leaders and thinkers whose vision built nations and shaped the course of history:

    • Menes: Creator of Dynasties
    • Merneith: A Queen Erased
    • Imhotep: From Peasant to God
    • Aesop: The Wisest Man in the Ancient World
    • Hannibal Barca: Unparalleled Military Strategist
    • Terence: North African Playwright
    • Amanirenas: Warrior, Diplomat, Queen
    • Tin Hinan: Founder of a City on the Dunes
    • Mansa Musa: The Richest Man of All Time
    • Queen Idia: Kingmaker

    Illustrator Hillary D. Wilson's brilliant portraits accompany each profile, along with vivid, information-filled landscapes, maps, and graphics for readers to pore over and return to again and again. This rich and thrilling work, which celebrates Black excellence and provides an essential correction to Eurocentric tellings of history, will enthrall readers of all ages.

    “In African Icons, Baptiste engages in the hard work of unveiling the myths about the African continent to young readers . . . This is a great beginner’s guide to pre-colonial Africa.” —Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist  

  • African Print Bookmark - Red and Yellow (Ankara)
    $4.00
    Approximately 2 x 6 inches Full color print on both sides Celebrate your love for reading and African culture with this vibrant Red and Yellow Ankara bookmark. Perfect for marking your place in style, it makes a playful statement and a thoughtful gift for book lovers and club readers alike. A colorful way to feel seen and spark conversation, this bookmark is an ideal little surprises for any book lover’s stocking. View our full collection of bookmarks here.
  • African Spiritual Traditions in the Novels of Toni Morrison
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    "Makes a valuable contribution to the ever-widening field of Morrison studies by exploring the intricacies of Morrison's African references, giving critics the ability to make more informed readings of the novels."--Canadian Review of American Studies

     

    "A study of African cosmology and epistemology in Morrison’s writings that draws on the academic author's experience in the Kongo and Yoruba traditions."--Chronicle Review

     

    "Addresses a real need: a scholarly and ritually informed reading of spirituality in the work of a major African American author. No other work catalogues so thoroughly the grounding of Morrison’s work in African cosmogonies. Zauditu-Selassie's many readings of Ba Kongo and Yoruba spiritual presence in Morrison's work are incomparably detailed and generally convincing."--Keith Cartwright, University of North Florida

     

    While others have studied the African spiritual ideas and values encoded in Morrison's work, African Spiritual Traditions in the Novels of Toni Morrison is the most comprehensive. In this volume, K. Zauditu-Selassie explores a wide range of complex concepts, including African deities, ancestral ideas, spiritual archetypes, mythic trope, and lyrical prose representing African spiritual continuities. She delves deeply into African spiritual traditions, clearly explaining the meanings of African cosmology and epistemology as manifest in Morrison’s novels.

    Zauditu-Selassie is uniquely positioned to write this book, as she is not only a literary critic but also a practicing Obatala priest in the Yoruba spiritual tradition and a Mama Nganga in the Kongo spiritual system. The result is a comprehensive, tour-de-force critical investigation of such works as The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Paradise, Love, Beloved, and Jazz.

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