AALBC.com's Best
Selling Books
Fiction | Nonfiction |
#1
A
Hustler's Wife ISBN:
0970247257 Sweet innocent Yarni, from a well-to do family, by chance, meets Richmond's notorious drug kingpin, Des. Immediately they develop an astronomical love, which separates her from her family and friends. But when Des, is sentenced to life in prison, she will learn, being a hustler's wife isn't as easy, with her sole provider behind bars. Travel with Yarni, as she survives when the script if flipped. At times she plays the game, and at other times...the game plays her. Her journey is filled with laughter, tears, failures, triumphs and perseverance. Nikki's debut novel is a smorgasbord of manipulation, street-life, greed, betrayal, envy, money, power and revenge. |
#1
African
American Heritage Hymnal: 575 Hymns, Spirituals, and Gospel Songs
ISBN: 1579991246 Eight years of inspired work by a committee of more than 30 musicians and pastors, all leaders in African American worship and gospel music, have resulted in this compendium representing the common repertoire of African American churches across the United States. For the first time in an African American hymnal, traditional hymns and songs are notated to reflect performance practices found in the oral tradition of the black church in America. At a time when such traditions are falling victim to modern technology, this book strives to preserve this rich heritage for future generations. Presented are litanies for �Fifty-Two Sundays of Worshipful Celebration� outlining an African American church year, including such special days as Martin Luther King Sunday, Elders� Day, Mother’s Day, and Men’s Day. Also included are 52 responsive scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments and an extensive index that includes scriptural and thematic cross-references. |
#2
Caught Up!: Dare to
Explore a World Most have Only Heard about! ISBN: 0972800506 When Raven Klein, a bi-racial woman from Iowa moves to Atlanta in hopes of finding a life she's secretly dreamed about, she finds more than she ever imagined. Quickly lured and lost in a world of sex, money, power-struggles, betrayal & deceit, Raven doesn't know who she can really trust! A chance meeting at a bus terminal leads to her delving into the seedy world of strip-clubs, big-ballers and shot-callers. Now, Raven's shuffling through more men than a Vegas blackjack dealer does a deck of cards. And sex has even become mundane -- little more than a tool to get what she wants. After a famous acquaintance winds-up dead -- On which shoulder will Raven lean? A wrong choice could cost her life! There's a reason they call it HOTATLANTA! |
#2
Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land ISBN: 0525947582 Randall Robinson is quitting America, and this book charts his journey from the most powerful nation on earth to the tiny tropical island where his wife was born. His search for a more peaceful and hospitable place grew out of the disappointment and increasing sense of abandonment he felt in the land of his own birth-an America that has sapped the creative energies of his race and has "transfigured humanity." |
#3
Chocolate
Flava: The Eroticanoir.com Anthology Zane (Editor) ISBN: 0743482387 This is a his-and-her collection. There are stories specifically written with female readers in mind, and others written expressly for men. Among the contributors are names already familiar to readers of erotica, such as Reginald Harris, Robert Edison Sandiford, Jonathan Luckett and, of course, Zane -- as well as emerging voices, such as Geneva Barnes and Robert Scott Adams. What they all have in common is that they are great at what they do, and have been handpicked by Zane -- an editor who knows a hot story when she sees it. |
#3
Everything
but the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture by Greg Tate (Editor) ISBN: 0767908082 White kids from the �burbs are throwing up gang signs. The 2001 Grammy winner for best rap artist was as white as rice. And blond-haired sorority sisters are sporting FUBU gear. What is going on in American culture that’s giving our nation a racial-identity crisis? Read an AALBC.com Review |
#4
Some
Things I Never Thought I'd Do by Pearl Cleage ISBN: 0345456068 Depending on the time of day, Regina Burns is a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown or an overdue breakthrough. One shattered heart and six months of rehab have left her wary and shell-shocked - especially with the prospect of taking a temporary consulting job in Atlanta, a move that would allow Regina to rescue the family home that she borrowed against when she was "a stomp down dope fiend." Her stone-faced banker has grudgingly agreed to give her sixty days to settle her debts or lose the house. Returning to Atlanta is a big risk. Last time Regina was there, she lost track of who she was and what she wanted. There's a lot of emotional baggage with her new employer, Beth Davis. Can she really forgive Beth for breaking up her wedding plans on New Year's Eve because she just didn't think Regina was good enough to marry her son? Meanwhile, Regina's visionary Aunt Abbie has told her to be on the lookout for a handsome stranger with "the ocean in his eyes" who has a bone to pick and a promise to keep. Then a blue-eyed brother appears on the streets of Afro-Atlanta wearing a black cashmere overcoat, flashing a dazzling smile, and lending a helping hand when Regina needs it most. But between falling for Blue Hamilton and dealing with Beth, secrets will emerge that will threaten to send Regina's life twisting in surprising new directions. |
#4
America
behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans ISBN: 0446532738 "Henry Louis Gates, Jr., examines the surprising social and economic journey African Americans have made. Using the interviews he conducted for his PBS series, Professor Gates portrays a community united by shared memory and a strong, vibrant culture, yet divided by wealth and lack of opportunity - a people still struggling to ensure true equality for all." Professor Gates traveled across the country interviewing forty-four famous and not-so-famous individuals from parts of the African-American community - the "Black Elite," "The New South," "Chicago's South Side," and "Black Hollywood." In their own words, each discusses what it means to be African American in the twenty-first century: from Maya Angelou and Morgan Freeman's reflections on "returning home" to the South...to convict "Eric Edwards" telling us how his peers find self-sufficiency and prove their adulthood...from an interracial couple describing how they cope with the remnants of racism in Birmingham to a single mother's insights into how life on Chicago's newly renovated South Side still presents its own particular obstacles and dangers. |
#5
Bad
Girlz: A Novel ISBN: 074348620X The best-selling author of B-More Careful, Shannon Holmes, delivers Bad Girlz, another wild adventure into the streets. The setting this time is the Badlands, one of the toughest and poorest communities in Philadelphia. Bad Girlz takes you into the mysterious and often dangerous lives of young women who turn to the streets and strip clubs as a means of survival. These are girls who, along the way, suffer bad breaks and find themselves ripe for exploitation by men and women who pretend to be their saviors. Tender and Goldie were taken under wing by Kat, a veteran stripper, who enjoyed the life and the risks she had to take to stay in the mix of the sex trade. Both of these young and beautiful girls had ended up in dire straits and in need of Kat's help in different ways, but ultimately for the same reasons: They lacked the love and support that most of us expect to get at home and in our communities. Where they live, illegal money is often the only money to be made, and the difference between the law and the outlaw is tough to discern. |
#5
Countering
the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys
ISBN: 0913543004 Advice for parents, educators, community, and church members is provided in this guide for ensuring that African American boys grow up to be strong, committed, and responsible African American men. This book answers such questions as Why are there more black boys in remedial and special education classes than girls? Why are more girls on the honor roll? When do African American boys see a positive black male role model? Is the future of black boys in the hands of their mothers and white female teachers? and When does a boy become a man? The significance of rite of passage activities, including mentoring, male bonding, and spirituality, are all described. |
#6
Another Man's Wife by Shonda Cheekes ISBN: 1593090080 Shonda Cheekes is the author of "Lessons Learned," which was published in Blackgentelmen.com, a short story anthology. She lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida, where she is at work on her second novel. |
#6
Escape
from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity - and My Journey
to Freedom in America Francis Bok, Edward Tivnan ISBN: 0312306237 In this modern slave narrative, Francis Bok shares his remarkable story with grace, honesty, and a wisdom gained from surviving ten years in captivity." "May 1986: Seven-year-old Francis Bok was selling his mother's eggs and peanuts near his village in southern Sudan when his life was suddenly shattered as Arab raiders on horseback, armed with rifles and long knives, burst into the quiet marketplace, murdering men and gathering the women and young children into a group. Strapped to horses and donkeys, Francis and others were taken north into lives of slavery under wealthy Muslim farmers. Now a student and an antislavery activist, Francis Bok has made it his life mission to combat world slavery. His is the first voice to speak for an estimated twenty-seven million people held against their will in nearly every nation, including our own. Escape from Slavery is at once a riveting adventure, a story of desperation and triumph, and a window revealing a world that few have survived to tell. |
#7
Entangled by K. Elliott ISBN: 0971769702 After five years in prison, drug dealer Jamal Stewart is becoming reacquainted with the perils of the streets. His rehabilitation, if any can only be seen through the eyes of his new love�Dream Nelson, a middle school teacher. With a criminal record, finding employment becomes a job in itself for Jamal. His best friend Dawg pushes him to contact an old cocaine connection. Dream attempts to keep him from the life of crime that eventually reels her in as well. Living in a world filled with unprotected sex, violence, payoffs, disloyalty and drug dealing, Jamal becomes the focus of a manhunt. Vowing to never return to prison, he decides he will hold court in the streets. He soon learns how some things can be caught� without a chase. This multi-plotted suspense novel will bring reality far too close to home. |
#7
From
"Superman" to Man
ISBN: 0960229442 This short book follows a prolonged conversation on skin color prejudice between a white senator from the South and his widely traveled, well-read Black porter. Rogers himself worked as a Chicago porter and was largely self-educated. Toward the end of the book, Dixon, the porter, is asked if Christianity has not been a solace to mistreated Black people. Dixon echoes the feelings of his creator:
|
#8
Dutch: The First of a
Trilogy by Teri Woods
ISBN: 0967224942 Teri Woods, author of the successful True To The Game Starting from rags to riches, Dutch rise was of his accord. Vowing never to be locked away in prison again he took his rightful place on top with his team in respected positions to initiate murder, mayhem, muscle, matter, as well as mentality! Bernard James Jr. A.K.A. Dutch wore the crown of the most terrifying force in the streets. Yet, he was "R-E-S-P-E-C-T-E-D" The balance between being loved and feared. |
#8
They Came before Columbus: The African Presence in
Ancient America ISBN: 0394402456 With the skill of a novelist, Ivan Van Sertima reveals to readers compelling, dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence and legacy of Black Africans in ancient America. It is the marriage of twin crafts--the artist's and the scholar's--in a book that makes it possible to see clearly the unmistakable face and handprint of Black Africans in Pre-Columbian America, and their overwhelming impact on the civilization they found here. |
#9
Gansta
by K'wan
ISBN: 0970247214 For years Lou-loc, an efficient assassin, and O.G., of the Crip organization, did dirt. After dancing on the razor's edge, he becomes weary of the street life that has consumed him during his years of service to his set. He begins to wonder if there's a better way to make a living? Lou-Loc and his sociopath counterpart: "Gutter"-Leave L.A. for the colorful streets of New York. Lou-Loc has dreams of becoming a writer. Gutter has dreams of becoming a King pen. Conflicting, intriguing and suspenseful: This novel will keep you on the
edge of your seat. |
#9
Up From
Slavery Booker T. Washington
ISBN: 0140390510 Nineteenth-century African American businessman, activist, and educator Booker Taliaferro Washington's Up from Slavery is one of the greatest American autobiographies ever written. Its mantras of black economic empowerment, land ownership, and self-help inspired generations of black leaders, including Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. In rags-to-riches fashion, Washington recounts his ascendance from early life as a mulatto slave in Virginia to a 34-year term as president of the influential, agriculturally based Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From that position, Washington reigned as the most important leader of his people, with slogans like "cast down your buckets," which emphasized vocational merit rather than the academic and political excellence championed by his contemporary rival W.E.B. Du Bois. Though many considered him too accommodating to segregationists, Washington, as he said in his historic "Atlanta Compromise" speech of 1895, believed that "political agitation alone would not save [the Negro]," and that "property, industry, skill, intelligence, and character" would prove necessary to black Americans' success. The potency of his philosophies are alive today in the nationalist and conservative camps that compose the complex quilt of black American society. |
#10
Dumb
as Me: Women Gave Him Comfort, Misusing Them Gave Him More by Michael Gainer
ISBN: 0971488703 Justin just wanted to enjoy life. After all, being a player seemed to come naturally. Pimp'in women and breaking hearts was his specialty. If only his player hate'in wife Alexis would conform to the rules of the game, that would make life even better. Justin can't take all the credit for his fabulous lifestyle, there are a cast of characters contributing to his lifelong pursuit of conquering women. There is his boy Hammer who maintains VIP status in all of Miami's clubs, Sheila, the hotel maid with the "oh so fat a--," his loving yet high rolling Mom Sylvia and his estranged father Henry (affectionately referred to as "The Rooster"). Settle in with Dumb as Me and experience a day in the life of Justin Drake, THE MAN. Not to forget...the intoxicating, mysterious Eden. The one woman that manages to show Justin just what pimp'in is |
#10
100
Amazing Facts about the Negro with Complete Proof ISBN: 0960229477 Written in the 1940's and published in 1957. BLACK FACT: PROOF: |
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