Maya Angelou's brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves.

Angelou's strong words are matched by the daring vision of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose childlike style reveals the powerful emotions and fanciful imaginings of childhood. Together, Angelou's words and Basquiat's paintings create a place where every child, indeed every person, may experience his or her own fearlessness.

In this brilliant introduction to poetry and contemporary art, brief biographies of Angelou and Basquiat accompany the text and artwork, focusing on the strengths they took from their lives and brought to their work. A selected bibliography of Angelou's books and a selected museum listing of Basquiat's works open the door to further inspiration through the fine arts.

—Excerpted from the Introduction

The high priestess of the hood, Nikki Turner, is back with the novel fans have been feenin’ for: the sequel to her #1 bestselling novel, A Hustler’s Wife.

Des, Virginia’s slickest gangsta, is about to become a dad when he is charged with the murder of his own attorney. But with Yarni, his gorgeous wife (and a brilliant lawyer), now calling the shots, Des isn’t going back to the slammer without a fierce fight. Even with the heat on, Des manages to take his game to the next level and finds a new hustle, one that will allow him to possess the three things all major players desire: money, power, and respect. He becomes a preacher. Reluctantly, Yarni stands by her man as he trades in his triple beam scale for a Bible and a Bentley and makes his Church of the Good Life Ministry a welcoming place for all sinners to step up to the altar.

But when Des’s nephew is killed in the high-stakes heroin trade and Des learns that someone close to him okayed the hit, the dyed-in-the-wool gangsta sets aside the Bible for the gospel of the streets–even if it means risking the one person who’s always had his back.

Karrine draws you in to get an up-close and personal look at the Hollywood life of fast money and sex; all the things that make for a great movie. She discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and how she copes with it all.

At the center of Toni Morrison's fifth novel, which earned her the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is an almost unspeakable act of horror and heroism: a woman brutally kills her infant daughter rather than allow her to be enslaved. The woman is Sethe, and the novel traces her journey from slavery to freedom during and immediately following the Civil War. Woven into this circular, mesmerizing narrative are the horrible truths of Sethe's past: the incredible cruelties she endured as a slave, and the hardships she suffered in her journey north to freedom. Just as Sethe finds the past too painful to remember, and the future just "a matter of keeping the past at bay," her story is almost too painful to read. Yet Morrison manages to imbue the wreckage of her characters' lives with compassion, humanity, and humor. Part ghost story, part history lesson, part folk tale, Beloved finds beauty in the unbearable, and lets us all see the enduring promise of hope that lies in anyone's future.

From a clandestine relationship with Nas's biggest rival, Jay-Z, that stirred up the biggest feud in hip-hop history, to seeing her reputation in tatters and a once loving relationship with Nas fall apart, Carmen depicts her trying journey to become the strong woman and mother she is today. After years of turmoil that included drugs, sex, greed, and violence -- and abandoning what she had always prized above all, her freedom -- Carmen took a stand, focusing on herself. After years of pursuit by the media, Carmen sets the record straight in It's No Secret -- and has no regrets.

Twenty-five-year-old Dante Brown is down and out in L.A. After doing a stretch of hard time in juvenile jail, he cleaned up his act as a computer techie-only to be laid off when the economy went south. Now he's facing a mountain of unpaid bills, a car on its last legs, imminent eviction, and a snowball's chance in hell with Pam, a sexy waitress/actress on the hunt for a man with means.

Enter Scamz, a slick brother from Dante's checkered past whose successful, illegal business associations keep him in custom-tailored suits, a Benz CL600, and a lavish Hollywood mansion with his pick of gorgeous women. Dante is determined to stay straight...after one last con that could put him back on top. But he gets pulled in deeper when his old friend Jackson, who's $16,000 behind in child support, becomes part of the sting. The icing on the cake is Pam who, seduced by the easy money, suddenly finds Dante irresistible...until everything goes wrong.

Throughout the book, Kola speaks in a voice so utterly naked, truthful and unpretentious that it's impossible not to fall in love with her.

Nikki's debut novel is a smorgasbord of manipulation, street-life, greed, betrayal, envy, money, power and revenge.

Each chapter outlines one key issue and provides a list of resources, suggestions for action, and a checklist for what concerned citizens can do to keep their communities progressing socially, politically, and economically. Though the African American community faces devastating social disparities—in which more than 8 million people live in poverty—this celebration of possibility, hope, and strength will help leaders and citizens keep Black America moving forward.

The book shifts into high gear as Zoe finds out that everyone from her lovers to her husband to her own mother are hiding secrets of their own. Her best friend, Brina, is physically abused by her alcoholic boyfriend, Dempsey. Zoe discovers under hypnosis that her fascination with sex stems from two incidents in her early childhood she had buried deeply into the crevices of her mind. She is stalked and attacked. The book comes to a head on a cold, dark mountain following a trail of murders and the true murderer is anyone’s guess. Addicted does for women what Fatal Attraction did for men. It will make a woman think twice before risking it all.

This collection of essays explores several sites of racialized power, from scholarly works embedded in academic disciplines to ethnic museums and several race-based exclusionary political practices. The point of view is comparative--that of a woman of color feminist--and that of one born into a red zone, the world of urban Native America in the second half of the twentieth century. Arguing that the experiences of indigenous peoples--as subjects of museum display, anthropological investigation, and history writing, as well as those whose communities have provided both cultural commodities for mass consumption and exemplars for performative appropriation--often overlap those experienced by other racialized communities ( primarily within the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean), this work offers a wide-ranging analysis of several symbolic and political regimes of racial and gender power. Polemical in tone, the essays are each grounded in an historical consciousness specific to communities of color in the contemporary U.S.

About the Author
Patricia Penn Hilden is Professor of Native American History and Comparative Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She has published several works about gender, race, and politics, most recently the semi-autobiographical When Nickels Were Indians (Smithsonian Institution Press).

The femme fatale of the streets is back and she s deadlier than ever. Precious miraculously survives her brush with death, but the celebration is cut short when tragedy strikes. Convinced that Nico Carter is responsible for ripping her world apart, Precious' sole purpose for living is to make him pay in blood. The street life that she left behind calls her name as Precious wreaks havoc on anyone who stands in her way of getting revenge. While on her path of destruction, new enemies arise and old friends resurface, complicating Precious plans to bring Nico down. But soon she realizes that everything isn't what it seems. Will the dark road Precious travels finally lead to her own demise once and for all?

About the Author
Born in Toledo, Ohio and raised in California, Maryland and North Carolina, Deja King represents a new breed of writers producing young, hip and sexy novels that introduce readers to street life in all its complexity. Having worked and studied in such high-profile institutions as The Terrie Williams Agency, the Lee Strasburg Theater Institute and Click Radio, King has rubbed elbows with celebrities, athletes and artists. Opting to take a break from industry challenges, King changed direction to explore something even more wonderful motherhood. King welcomed her son, Logan Michael, into the world in mid 2001. It was during this time that she discovered her love for writing. Now, with the release of her highly anticipated sequel, Bitch Reloaded, Ms. King once again finds herself in good company.

Author, preservationist, and Harlem resident Michael Henry Adams presents in this volume an architectural and social history of Harlem. Starting in its early days - the establishment of the first European farms in the mid-1660s, Thomas Jefferson’s dinner at the Morris-Jumel mansion - the story encompasses great periods of social upheaval and change. Numerous architectural styles were employed by the builders of Harlem, notably neo-Palladianism, and specially commissioned color photographs capture the area as its architecture and interiors are being lovingly restored. Harlem: Lost and Found tells of the history and also of the present of this once ignored and now vibrant metropolitan center.

Zane, the queen of erotic fiction and publisher of Strebor Books, an imprint of Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, presents the second in a series of collections of great erotic fiction. Based on the Featured Erotica section of her website, Eroticanoir.com, which gets more than three million hits a year from around the world, these sensual tales, handpicked by Zane, are sure to please her fans.

These stories are written specifically with both African-American and Latino readers in mind, but they are for all people because as Zane always states: "Sensuality is universal." Among the contributors are names already familiar to readers of erotica, such as Tracee A. Hanna, Teresa Lamai, Michelle De Leon, Naleighna Kai, William Fredrick Cooper, and, of course, Zane -- as well as emerging voices, such as Pat Tucker, James W. Lewis, and Nikki Sinclair.

Zane always selects stories that turn her on, and she guarantees they will turn you on, also. These storytellers take risks. The stories are unique and creative. The contributors to this book are great at what they do -- making readers hot.

“Young men today have been bombarded with images of wealth and success that tell them that buying the hottest car or the most bling-blingin’ jewelry is what they should be motivated by. There is an overwhelming sales pitch targeted at these young men that subliminally suggests that material goods are what makes them real men. I want young men to have knowledge of the things that bring them true empowerment: education, a strong sense of purpose, compassion, confidence, and humility, to name a few.

It is no accident that I graduated from Brown University magna cum laude and received graduate degrees with honors from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. My family taught me that doing my best, educating myself, and being in service to others were not optional and that having values and being truthful were not negotiable.

I am living proof that these principles work. Through the letters in this book, I wish to pass on to other young men my grandfathers’ legacies of education, hard work, determination, and success.”

Carmen's made enough money and she wants out. But can she get out alive? And can she get out in time? Can Carmen, her infant son, and Delano live happily ever after? Vickie M. Stringer adroitly weaves fact and fiction and has written the most honest, provocative and compelling novel of the "Bad-Girl" genre.

"This testimony from a black sister marks the beginning of a new era in the minds and hearts of all black men and women... I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity. I have no words for this achievement, but I know that not since the days of my childhood, when the people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself so moved... Her portrait is a biblical study in life in the midst of death." —James Baldwin

Ever since he got married and moved to Seattle, Sonny Harrison has missed his friends in New York. But that’s going to change now that James has pulled some strings and gotten him a job at UPS. There’s just one problem—Sonny’s wife. When Sonny tells her the good news, she promptly sends him packing. Sonny’s heartbroken—until he reunites with his high school sweetheart, Tiffany. But his quick devotion soon turns suffocating—and scary. Tiffany wants out, but the harder she tries to end things, the harder Sonny hangs on. As his behavior becomes more and more obsessive, Brent and James may be the only ones who can intervene. But will helping Tiffany mean losing their friend forever?