Essays
- Make Your Way Home : Stories![Make Your Way Home : Stories]()  Make Your Way Home : Stories Carrie R. Moore $17.99A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back? In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life, despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess, who falls for a new church member, wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate. Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come. 
- Nobody Knows My Name![Nobody Knows My Name cover image]()  Nobody Knows My Name James Baldwin $16.00From one of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of the twentieth century comes a collection of "passionate, probing, controversial" essays (The Atlantic) on topics ranging from race relations in the United States to the role of the writer in society. Told with Baldwin's characteristically unflinching honesty, this “splendid book” (The New York Times) offers illuminating, deeply felt essays along with personal accounts of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer and other writers. “James Baldwin is a skillful writer, a man of fine intelligence and a true companion in the desire to make life human. To take a cue from his title, we had better learn his name.” —The New York Times 
- The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae![The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae]()  The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae $16.00*Ships in 7-10 Business Days* I’m awkward—and black. Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be. That someone was right. Where do I start? 
 Being an introvert (as well as “funny,” according to the Los Angeles Times) in a world that glorifies cool isn’t easy. But when Issa Rae, the creator of the Shorty Award-winning hit series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, is that introvert—whether she’s navigating love, the workplace, friendships, or “rapping”—it sure is entertaining. Now, in this New York Times bestselling debut collection written in her witty and self-deprecating voice, Rae covers everything from cybersexing in the early days of the Internet to deflecting unsolicited comments on weight gain, from navigating the perils of eating out alone and public displays of affection to learning to accept yourself—natural hair and all.
 The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is a book no one—awkward or cool, black, white, or other—will want to miss.
- Bibliophile: Diverse Spines![Bibliophile: Diverse Spines]()  Bibliophile: Diverse Spines by Jamise Harper $18.95This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen knowledge and deep love for all things literary, coauthors Jamise Harper (founder of the Diverse Spines book community) and Jane Mount (author of Bibliophile) collaborated to create an essential volume filled with treasures for every reader: 
 • Dozens of themed illustrated book stacks—like Classics, Contemporary Fiction, Mysteries, Cookbooks, and more—all with an emphasis on authors of color and authors from diverse cultural backgrounds
 • A look inside beloved bookstores owned by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
 • Reading recommendations from leading BIPOC literary influencers
 Diversify your reading list to expand your world and shift your perspective. Kickstart your next literary adventure now!
- Decolonising the Mind : The Politics of Language in African Literature![Decolonising the Mind : The Politics of Language in African Literature]()  Decolonising the Mind : The Politics of Language in African Literature Ngugi wa Thiong'o Sold outA collection of essays about language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity, that advocates for linguistic decolonization. 
 'The language of literature', Ngũgĩ writes, 'cannot be discussed meaningfully outside the context of those social forces which have made it both an issue demanding our attention, and a problem calling for a resolution.' First published in 1986, Decolonising the Mind is one of Ngũgĩ's best-known and most-cited non-fiction publications, helping to cement him as a pre-eminent voice theorizing the 'language debate' in postcolonial studies.
 Ngũgĩ wrote his first novels and plays in English but was determined, even before his detention without trial in 1978, to move to writing in Gikuyu. He describes the book as 'a summary of some of the issues in which I have been passionately involved for the last twenty years of my practice in fiction, theatre, criticism, and in teaching of literature...'. Split into four essays - 'The Language of African Literature', 'The Language of African Theatre', 'The Language of African Fiction', and 'The Quest for Relevance' - the book offers an anti-imperialist perspective on the destiny of Africa and the role of languages in combatting and perpetrating imperialism and neo-colonialism in African nations.
- The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations![The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations]()  The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison $19.00NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Here is the Nobel Prize winner in her own words: a rich gathering of her most important essays and speeches, spanning four decades that "speaks to today’s social and political moment as directly as this morning’s headlines” (NPR). 
 These pages give us her searing prayer for the dead of 9/11, her Nobel lecture on the power of language, her searching meditation on Martin Luther King Jr., her heart-wrenching eulogy for James Baldwin. She looks deeply into the fault lines of culture and freedom: the foreigner, female empowerment, the press, money, “black matter(s),” human rights, the artist in society, the Afro-American presence in American literature. And she turns her incisive critical eye to her own work (The Bluest Eye, Sula, Tar Baby, Jazz, Beloved,Paradise) and that of others.
 An essential collection from an essential writer, The Source of Self-Regard shines with the literary elegance, intellectual prowess, spiritual depth, and moral compass that have made Toni Morrison our most cherished and enduring voice.
- Just Us: An American Conversation![Just Us: An American Conversation]()  Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine $20.00*ships in 7 - 10 business days* In Just Us, Claudia Rankine invites us into a necessary conversation about Whiteness in America. What would it take for us to breach the silence, guilt, and violence that arise from addressing Whiteness for what it is? What are the consequences if we keep avoiding this conversation? What might it look like if we step into it? “I learned early that being right pales next to staying in the room,” she writes. 
 This brilliant assembly of essays, poems, documents, and images disrupts the false comfort of our culture’s liminal and private spaces―the airport, the theater, the dinner party, the voting booth―where neutrality and politeness deflect true engagement in our shared problems. Rankine makes unprecedented art out of the actual voices and rebuttals of others: White men responding to, and with, their White male privilege; a friend clarifying her unexpected behavior at a play; and women on the street expressing the political currency of dyeing their hair blond, all running alongside fact-checked notes and commentary that complement Rankine’s own text, complicating notions of authority and who gets the last word. Funny, vulnerable, and prescient, Just Us is Rankine’s most intimate and urgent book, a crucial call to challenge our vexed reality.
- Black Landscapes Matter![Black Landscapes Matter]()  Black Landscapes Matter edited by Walter Hood & Grace Mitchell Tada Sold outThe question "Do black landscapes matter?" cuts deep to the core of American history. From the plantations of slavery to contemporary segregated cities, from freedman villages to northern migrations for freedom, the nation’s landscape bears the detritus of diverse origins. Black landscapes matter because they tell the truth. In this vital new collection, acclaimed landscape designer and public artist Walter Hood assembles a group of notable landscape architecture and planning professionals and scholars to probe how race, memory, and meaning intersect in the American landscape. Essayists examine a variety of U.S. places—ranging from New Orleans and Charlotte to Milwaukee and Detroit—exposing racism endemic in the built environment and acknowledging the widespread erasure of black geographies and cultural landscapes. Through a combination of case studies, critiques, and calls to action, contributors reveal the deficient, normative portrayals of landscape that affect communities of color and question how public design and preservation efforts can support people in these places. In a culture in which historical omissions and specious narratives routinely provoke disinvestment in minority communities, creative solutions by designers, planners, artists, and residents are necessary to activate them in novel ways. Black people have built and shaped the American landscape in ways that can never be fully known. Black Landscapes Matter is a timely and necessary reminder that without recognizing and reconciling these histories and spaces, America’s past and future cannot be understood. 
- A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing From Soil to Stars![A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing From Soil to Stars]()  A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing From Soil to Stars by Erin Sharkey $20.00A vibrant collection of personal and lyric essays in conversation with archival objects of Black history and memory. What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? In A Darker Wilderness, a constellation of luminary writers reflect on the significance of nature in their lived experience and on the role of nature in the lives of Black folks in the United States. Each of these essays engages with a single archival object, whether directly or obliquely, exploring stories spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles, traveling from roots to space and finding rich Blackness everywhere. Erin Sharkey considers Benjamin Banneker’s 1795 almanac, as she follows the passing of seasons in an urban garden in Buffalo. Naima Penniman reflects on a statue of Haitian revolutionary François Makandal, within her own pursuit of environmental justice. Ama Codjoe meditates on rain, hair, protest, and freedom via a photo of a young woman during a civil rights demonstration in Alabama. And so on—with wide-ranging contributions from Carolyn Finney, Ronald Greer II, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Sean Hill, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Glynn Pogue, Katie Robinson, and Lauret Savoy—unearthing evidence of the ways Black people’s relationship to the natural world has persevered through colonialism, slavery, state-sponsored violence, and structurally racist policies like Jim Crow and redlining. A scrapbook, a family chest, a quilt—and an astounding work of historical engagement and literary accomplishment—A Darker Wilderness is a collection brimming with abundan 
- Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America![Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America]()  Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi Sold out*ships in 7-10 business days A tour-de-force collection of stories about the Black experience, by award-winning, bestselling, and emerging African American YA authors. Black is... two sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon as written by Renée Watson. Black is… Jason Reynolds writing about three guys walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything. Black is… Nic Stone’s bougie debutante dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is …two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland. Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—because there are countless ways to be Black enough. Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, this is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. Contributors: Justina Ireland Varian Johnson Rita Williams-Garcia Dhonielle Clayton Kekla Magoon Leah Henderson Tochi Onyebuchi Jason Reynolds Nic Stone Liara Tamani Renée Watson Tracey Baptiste Coe Booth Brandy Colbert Jay Coles Ibi Zoboi Lamar Giles 
- The Colors of Nature: Culture Identity And The Natural World![The Colors of Nature: Culture Identity And The Natural World]()  The Colors of Nature: Culture Identity And The Natural World edited by Alison H. Deming and Lauret E. Savoy $22.00From African American to Asian American, indigenous to immigrant, "multiracial" to "mixedblood," the diversity of cultures in this world is matched only by the diversity of stories explaining our cultural origins: stories of creation and destruction, displacement and heartbreak, hope and mystery. With writing from Jamaica Kincaid on the fallacies of national myths, Yusef Komunyakaa connecting the toxic legacy of his hometown, Bogalusa, LA, to a blind faith in capitalism, and bell hooks relating the quashing of multiculturalism to the destruction of nature that is considered "unpredictable" amongst more than 35 other examinations of the relationship between culture and nature  this collection points toward the trouble of ignoring our cultural heritage, but also reveals how opening our eyes and our minds might provide a more livable future. 
- Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–![Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974– cover image]()  Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974– Jamaica Kincaid $30.00My ignorance was on my side. I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t know what to be afraid of. I did one thing, I did another. I did what I now call crashing about. One day I started to write. This collection of Jamaica Kincaid’s nonfiction writing, including early pieces from publications such as The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and Ms., proves what her admirers have always known: from the start, she has been a consummate stylist, and she has always been herself. From “Jamaica Kincaid’s New York,” which narrates her move to the city from Antigua at the age of sixteen and a half, to the classic “Biography of a Dress,” her cultural criticism, and her original thinking about the meaning of the garden, Kincaid writes about the world as she finds it, imparting her own quizzical, rapier-sharp response to whatever crosses her path. Putting Myself Together is a brilliant, trenchant, hilarious self-portrait of the artist and a testament to how this inimitable, self-created mind and spirit, endowed with wit, humor, and fearlessness, has become one of our greatest, most original writers. 
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants![Book cover image]()  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Robin Wall Kimmerer $35.00A New York Times Bestseller 
 A Washington Post Bestseller
 A Los Angeles Times Bestseller
 Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub
 A Book Riot "Favorite Summer Read of 2020"
 A Food Tank Fall 2020 Reading RecommendationUpdated with a new introduction from Robin Wall Kimmerer, the special edition of Braiding Sweetgrass, reissued in honor of the fortieth anniversary of Milkweed Editions, celebrates the book as an object of meaning that will last the ages. Beautifully bound with a new cover featuring an engraving by Tony Drehfal, this edition includes a bookmark ribbon and five brilliantly colored illustrations by artist Nate Christopherson. In increasingly dark times, we honor the experience that more than 350,000 readers in North America have cherished about the book—gentle, simple, tactile, beautiful, even sacred—and offer an edition that will inspire readers to gift it again and again, spreading the word about scientific knowledge, indigenous wisdom, and the teachings of plants. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return. 
- Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974-1989![Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974-1989]()  Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974-1989 edited by Julie R. Enszer $14.95*This item will ship or be ready for pick up in 7-10 business days Literary Nonfiction. Poetry. African & African American Studies. LGBTQIA Studies. Women's Studies. 2019 Over the Rainbow Booklist Selection for Nonfiction. Poets Audre Lorde and Pat Parker first met in 1969; they began exchanging letters regularly five years later. Over the next fifteen years, Lorde and Parker shared ideas, advice, and confidences through the mail. They sent each other handwritten and typewritten letters and postcards often with inserted items including articles, money, and video tapes. SISTER LOVE: THE LETTERS OF AUDRE LORDE AND PAT PARKER 1974-1989 gathers this correspondence for readers to eavesdrop on Lorde and Parker. They discuss their work as writers as well as intimate details of their lives, including periods when each lived with cancer. SISTER LOVE is a rare opportunity to glimpse inside the minds and friendship of two great twentieth century poets. 
- She Memes Well![She Memes Well]()  She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson Sold out*Ships in 7-10 Business Days* From comedian Quinta Brunson comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you're struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she's redefined humor online. 
 Quinta Brunson is a master at breaking the internet. Before having any traditional background in media, her humorous videos were the first to go viral on Instagram’s platform. From there, Brunson’s wryly observant POV helped cement her status in the comedy world at large, with roles on HBO, Netflix, ABC, Adult Swim, BuzzFeed, the CW, and Comedy Central. Now, Brunson is bringing her comedic chops to the page in She Memes Well, an earnest, laugh-out-loud collection about this unusual road to notoriety.
 In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. With anecdotes that range from the ridiculous—like the time she decided to go clubbing wearing an outfit she describes as "Gary Coleman meets metrosexual pirate"—to more heartfelt material about her struggles with depression, Quinta's voice is entirely authentic and eminently readable. With its intimate tone and hilarious moments, She Memes Well will make you feel as if you're sitting down with your chillest, funniest friend.
- Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession![Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession cover image]()  Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession Austin Channing Brown $27.00In a time of rising authoritarianism and attacks on personal freedoms, the New York Times bestselling author of I’m Still Here chronicles her efforts to live as her full self in a society that wants women—and Black women in particular—to do anything but that. As an antiracism educator and writer leading through America’s cycles of racial unrest, Austin Channing Brown reached a crossroads. “I love my work,” she writes, “and I am tired. We are tired. Tired of protesting. Tired of ‘saving democracy.’ Tired of educating and explaining.” She began to ask, “What do I deserve, not just as a citizen but as a human?” Full of Myself answers that question. Weaving personal narrative with perceptive social commentary, Brown offers a look at the mechanisms that limit who Black women are allowed to be—at work, at home, in community—and the defining moments when she decided that self-possession is the justice work she had been made to undervalue. From skinny-dipping in the ocean to becoming a mom, she delves into the drama of life and invites readers to begin defining themselves not as empty vessels to improve the world, but as a people born free in spirit, in hope, in joy. For Black women seeking to understand the true roots of their burnout, or for anyone wondering what it means to live joyfully in a hostile world, Full of Myself is a breath of fresh air and an invitation to full humanity. 
- The Devil Finds Work: An Essay (Vintage International)![The Devil Finds Work: An Essay (Vintage International) cover image]()  The Devil Finds Work: An Essay (Vintage International) James Baldwin $15.00From "the best essayist in this country” (The New York Times Book Review) comes an incisive book-length essay about racism in American movies that challenges the underlying assumptions in many of the films that have shaped our consciousness. Baldwin’s personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also an appraisal of American racial politics. Offering a look at racism in American movies and a vision of America’s self-delusions and deceptions, Baldwin considers such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist. Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained and shaped us. And here too is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change. 
- Unity and Struggle![Book cover image]()  Unity and Struggle Amílcar Cabral, Michael Wolfers, and Basil Davidson $20.99One of the world's greatest revolutionary leaders, Amílcar Cabral's long and arduous campaign for the liberation of Portuguese-dominated Africa is explored in this vivid compilation of his most influential speeches and writings. Unity and Struggle is the compelling account of Amílcar Cabral's fight against imperialism, discrimination and injustice, as well as his progressive advocacy for religious toleration and gender equality – all of which combined to make him one of Africa's foremost political leaders. Introduction by Basil Davidson. 'One of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa' Fidel Castro 
 'Figures like Amílcar Cabral... helped us to imagine the horizons of freedom in far broader terms than were available to us through what we now call "civil rights discourse".' Angela Davis
- The Harlem Ghetto: Essays![Book cover image]()  The Harlem Ghetto: Essays James Baldwin $20.00This collectible edition celebrates James Baldwin’s 100th-year anniversary, revealing and critiquing the realities of Black life in mid-century US Originally published in Notes of a Native Son, the essays "The Harlem Ghetto," "Journey to Atlanta," and "Notes of a Native Son" will appeal to those interested in the personal and political turmoil of Baldwin's life. “The Harlem Ghetto” introduces readers to the extremities of life in Baldwin’s native city. “Journey to Atlanta” depicts the faulty relationship between the Black community and the politician, following a quartet called The Melodeers on a trip to Atlanta under the auspices of the Progressive Party. Baldwin concludes this collection with “Notes of A Native Son,” a powerful autobiographical essay about his fractured relationship with his father. The Harlem Ghetto: Essays explores the American condition through a mix of analytic and autobiographical essays. This second collection in the Baldwin centennial anniversary series is Baldwin’s most personal as he grapples with his childhood and his own affinity with Blackness. 
- We're Alone: Essays![Book cover image]()  We're Alone: Essays by Edwidge Danticat $26.00A collection of exceptional new essays by one of the most significant contemporary writers on the world stage Tracing a loose arc from Edwidge Danticat’s childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti, the essays gathered in We’re Alone include personal narrative, reportage, and tributes to mentors and heroes such as Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gabriel García Márquez, and James Baldwin that explore several abiding themes: environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood, and the complexities of resilience. From hurricanes to political violence, from her days as a new student at a Brooklyn elementary school knowing little English to her account of a shooting hoax at a Miami mall, Danticat has an extraordinary ability to move from the personal to the global and back again. Throughout, literature and art prove to be her reliable companions and guides in both tragedies and triumphs. Danticat is an irresistible presence on the page: full of heart, outrage, humor, clear thinking, and moral questioning, while reminding us of the possibilities of community. And so “we’re alone” is both a fearsome admission and an intimate invitation―we’re alone now, we can talk. We’re Alone is a book that asks us to think through some of the world’s intractable problems while deepening our understanding of one of the most significant novelists at work today. 
- Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches![Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches]()  Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde $27.00Hardcover Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature, with a foreword by Mahogany L. Browne. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. 
- BLACK THOUGHTS: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS![BLACK THOUGHTS: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS]()  BLACK THOUGHTS: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS Mr. Tomonoshi! Sold outBLACK THOUGHTS: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS is an uncompromising exploration of Black American Futurism, resistance, innovation, and the elevation of Black thought. This book does not seek permission—it reclaims the narrative, dismantles historical distortions, and reimagines the Black future on its own terms. Through a series of bold and thought-provoking essays, MR. TOMONOSHi! confronts systemic erasure, economic exclusion, and the persistent framing of Black genius within whiteness. From the mislabeling of Black innovators as secondary to their white counterparts, to the financial structures that keep Black businesses in perpetual development, this book exposes how systems work against Black success while affirming that Black futurism is the blueprint for radical transformation. This work does not simply reflect on history—it challenges perspectives, reshapes narratives, and demands new action. It examines the relationship between Black ingenuity and survival, Black ownership and liberation, Black consumerism and economic power, all while rejecting the constraints imposed by whiteness as the 
- Loving in the War Years: And Other Writings, 1978-1998![Loving in the War Years: And Other Writings, 1978-1998]()  Loving in the War Years: And Other Writings, 1978-1998 by Cherríe Moraga $18.95An updated edition combining two classic works of Chicana and queer literatures, with a new introduction by renowned writer and luminary, Cherríe Moraga. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its original publication, this updated edition of Loving in the War Years combines Moraga’s classic memoir with The Last Generation: Poetry and Prose, originally published in 1993, along with additional writings from the late 1990s, The result is a synergy of signature works crucial to the development of the intersectional politics we know today. Cherríe Moraga’s powerful memoir remains as urgent as ever. She explores the contradictions and complexities of her Chicana and lesbian identities, moving gracefully between poetry and prose, Spanish and English, personal narratives and political theory. Moraga recounts navigating the world largely as an outsider in her early years, circling the interconnected societies around her from a distant yet observant perspective. Ultimately, however, her writing serves as a bridge between her cultures, languages, family, and herself, enabling her to look inward to forge connections from what had heretofore been inaccessible parts of her interior world. A touchstone for artists and activists, the works combine to show how deep self-awareness and compassionate engagement with one’s radically changing surroundings are key to building global solidarity among people and political movements. 
- The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (Vintage International)![The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (Vintage International) cover image]()  The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (Vintage International) James Baldwin $18.00From one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century—a collection of essays, articles, reviews, and interviews that have never before been gathered in a single volume. “An absorbing portrait of Baldwin’s time—and of him.” —New York Review of Books James Baldwin was an American literary master, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. In The Cross of Redemption we have Baldwin discoursing on, among other subjects, the possibility of an African-American president and what it might mean; the hypocrisy of American religious fundamentalism; the black church in America; the trials and tribulations of black nationalism; anti-Semitism; the blues and boxing; Russian literary masters; and the role of the writer in our society. Prophetic and bracing, The Cross of Redemption is a welcome and important addition to the works of a cosmopolitan and canonical American writer who still has much to teach us about race, democracy, and personal and national identity. As Michael Ondaatje has remarked, “If van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, Baldwin [was] our twentieth-century one.” 
- Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews![Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews cover image]()  Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews Glenn Ligon $38.00An expansive volume featuring over two decades of incisive reflections on race, art and pop culture by one of the greatest artists working today This long-awaited and essential volume collects writings and interviews by Glenn Ligon, whose canonical paintings, neons and installations have been delivering a cutting examination of race, history, sexuality and culture in America since his emergence in the late 1980s. No stranger to text, the artist has routinely utilized writings from James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Pryor, Gertrude Stein and others to construct work that centers Blackness within the historically white backdrop of the art world and culture writ large. Ligon began writing in the early 2000s, engaging deeply with the work of peers such as Julie Mehretu, Chris Ofili and Lorna Simpson, as well as with artists who came before him, among them Philip Guston, David Hammons and Andy Warhol. Interweaving a singular voice and a magical knack for storytelling with an astute view of art history and broader cultural shifts, this collection cements Ligon's status as one of the great chroniclers of our time. 
 Glenn Ligon was born in the Bronx in 1960. He began as an abstract painter but shifted to text-based works which often incorporate quotes from Black authors. His work can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
- Magically Black and Other Essays![Book cover image]()  Magically Black and Other Essays by Jerald Walker $24.99In this engaging follow up to How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, the recipient of PEN New England Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award sharply examines and explains Black life and culture with equal parts candor and humor. In Magically Black and Other Essays Jerald Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique to create a bracing and often humorous examination of Black American life. He thoughtfully addresses the inherent complexities of topics as eclectic as incarceration, home renovations, gentrification, the crip walk, pimping, and the rise of the MAGA movement, approaching them through various Black perspectives, including husband, father, teacher, and writer. The collection’s overarching theme is captured in the titular essay, which examines the culture of heroic action African Americans created in response to their enslavement and oppression, giving proof to Albert Murray’s observation that the “fire in the forging process . . . for all its violence, does not destroy the metal that becomes the sword.” 
- How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance![How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance]()  How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon & Kenrya Rankin Sold out*Ships/ready for pick up in 5-8 business days* This celebration of Black resistance, from protests to art to sermons to joy, offers a blueprint for the fight for freedom and justice -- and ideas for how each of us can contribute 
 Many of us are facing unprecedented attacks on our democracy, our privacy, and our hard-won civil rights. If you're Black in the US, this is not new. As Colorlines editors Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin show, Black Americans subvert and resist life-threatening forces as a matter of course. In these pages, leading organizers, artists, journalists, comedians, and filmmakers offer wisdom on how they fight White supremacy. It's a must-read for anyone new to resistance work, and for the next generation of leaders building a better future.
 Featuring contributions from:- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Tarana Burke
- Harry Belafonte
- Adrienne Maree brown
- Alicia Garza
- Patrisse Khan-Cullors
- Reverend Dr. Valerie Bridgeman
- Kiese Laymon
- Jamilah Lemieux
- Robin DG Kelley
- Damon Young
- Michael Arceneaux
- Hanif Abdurraqib
 
- Dr. Yaba Blay
 
- Diamond Stingily
 
- Amanda Seales
- Imani Perry
 
- Denene Millner
 
- Kierna Mayo
 
- John Jennings
 
- Dr. Joy Harden Bradford
 
- Tongo Eisen-Martin
 
- Everybody's Protest Novel: Essays![Book cover image]()  Everybody's Protest Novel: Essays James Baldwin $20.00“I am completely indebted to Jimmy Baldwin’s prose. It liberated me as a writer.”—Toni Morrison This collectible edition celebrates James Baldwin’s 100th-year anniversary, probing the shortcomings of the American protest novel and the harmful representations of Black identity in film and fiction Originally published in Notes of a Native Son, the essays “Autobiographical Notes,” “Everybody’s Protest Novel,” “Many Thousands Gone,” and “Carmen Jones: The Dark is Light Enough,” showcase Baldwin’s incisive voice as a social and literary critic. “Autobiographical Notes” outlines Baldwin’s journey as a Black writer and his hesitant transition from fiction to nonfiction. In the following essays, Baldwin explores the Black experience through the lens of popular media, critiquing the ways in which Black characters—in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Richard Wright’s novel Native Son, and the 1950s film Carmen Jones—are reduced to digestible caricatures. Everybody’s Protest Novel: Essays is the first of 3 special editions in the James Baldwin centennial anniversary series. Through this collection, Baldwin examines the façade of progress present in the novels of Black oppression. These essays showcase Baldwin’s profound ability to reveal the truth of the Black experience, exposing the failure of the protest novel, and the state of racial reckoning at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement. 
- Homecoming![Book cover image]()  Homecoming by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ime Ikiddeh $18.99In this collection of essays on African and Caribbean literature, culture, and politics, Ngugi wa Thiong'o delivers a groundbreaking critique of colonialism and capitalism in postcolonial Africa. In these essays, Ngugi wa Thiong'o eloquently interweaves a range of issues including religious oppression, consumerism, and independence with the powerful intellect and passion that has come to characterise his writing. These pieces are essential for readers wishing to uncover a critical perspective on African society and culture. Homecoming is a groundbreaking collection intended to provoke and encourage thoughtful debate on how best to 'restore the creative glory of Africa and of all Africans' in the wake of postcolonialism. 'One of the greatest writers of our time.' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
 'A tremendous writer... It's hard to doubt the power of the written word when you hear the story of Ngugi wa Thiong'o.' Guardian
 'One of Africa's greatest writers.' New York Times
- White Girls![Book cover image]()  White Girls Hilton Als $17.00"This book will change you." --Chicago Tribune White Girls is about, among other things, blackness, queerness, movies, Brooklyn, love (and the loss of love), AIDS, fashion, Basquiat, Capote, philosophy, porn, Eminem, Louise Brooks, and Michael Jackson. Freewheeling and dazzling, tender and true, it is one of the most daring and provocative books of recent years, an invaluable guide to the culture of our time. 
- Black Friend : Essays![Black Friend : Essays]()  Black Friend : Essays by Ziwe Sold outZiwe made a name for herself by asking guests like Alyssa Milano, Fran Lebowitz, and Chet Hanks direct questions. In Black Friend, she turns her incisive perspective on both herself and the culture at large. Throughout the book, Ziwe combines pop-culture commentary and personal stories, which grapple with her own (mis)understanding of identity. From a hilarious case of mistaken identity via a jumbotron to a terrifying fight-or-flight encounter in the woods, Ziwe raises difficult questions for comedic relief.
 From Black Friend’s Introduction:
 “Today, I learned that my book is ranked as the #1 new release in ‘Discrimination and Racism’ on Amazon. Wow. This is a huge honor, especially considering my stiff competition in the self-published manifestos space. Unfortunately, this victory is bittersweet. I worry that people may get the wrong idea and think that I am pro-racism when in actuality, I am indifferent. Still, I’d love to thank everyone who made this possible. I solemnly swear to write the most discriminatory book in American history. I hope I can make you proud.
 “Just kidding . . . I will not marginalize you . . . unless that’s your kink. This book of essays offers moments of extreme discomfort (and the subsequent growth) in my life around the role of ‘black friend.’ Black friends come in all shapes and sizes. Yet the archetype is often a two-dimensional character meant to support the non-black protagonists’ more complex humanity. Some black friends exist as the comic relief, like Donkey in any of the Shrek movies. Some are the sassy friend, like Louise from St. Louis in Sex and the City. Still others are the inexplicably sagacious companion, like Morpheus in The Matrix. It’s impossible for these individual portraits to reflect my complicated reality. To start, they are fictional. One of them is a talking ass. I do not exist just to move plot. While I am a supportive friend, I am not a supporting character. I am the protagonist of my perfectly imperfect story.”
- If They Come in the Morning... : Voices of Resistance![If They Come in the Morning... : Voices of Resistance]()  If They Come in the Morning... : Voices of Resistance edited by Angela Y. Davis $19.95*ships in 7 - 10 business days* With race and policing once more burning issues, this classic work from one of America’s giants of black radicalism has lost none of its prescience or power 
 One of America’s most historic political trials is undoubtedly that of Angela Davis. Opening with a letter from James Baldwin to Davis, and including contributions from numerous radicals such as Black Panthers George Jackson, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and Erica Huggins, this book is not only an account of Davis’s incarceration and the struggles surrounding it, but also perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough analysis of the prison system of the United States.
 Since the book was written, the carceral system in the U.S. has seen unprecedented growth, with more of America’s black population behind bars than ever before. The scathing analysis of the role of prison and the policing of black populations offered by Davis and her comrades in this astonishing volume remains as pertinent today as the day it was first published.
 Featuring contributions from George Jackson, Bettina Aptheker, Bobby Seale, James Baldwin, Ruchell Magee, Julian Bond, Huey P. Newton, Erika Huggins, Fleeta Drumgo, John Clutchette, and others.
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