This is a discussion of the transformation of drug use (especially morphine and cocaine, which was once commonly available in any chemist's shop) into a national menace. It revolves around the death of Billie Carleton, a West End musical actress, in 1918. Its cast of characters includes Brilliant Chang, a Chinese restaurant proprietor and Edgar Manning, a jazz drummer from Jamaica. They were eventually identified as the villains of the affair and invested with a highly charged sexual menace. Around them, in the streets off Shaftesbury Avenue, there swirled a raffish group of seedy and entitled hedonists. Britain was horrified and fascinated, and so the drug problem was born amid a gush of exotic tabloid detail.

Born a dope baby, I became a college graduate, a mother of three, an entrepreneur, an Income Tax professional and an NFL wife. I was raised in the 80's and 90's amid the crack cocaine epidemic, the worst and deadliest drug surge the United States had ever seen that plagued predominantly low-income African American communities. This is a story of how the cheap drug caused devastating effects not only to the addict we come to know as Rose, but also to me, Rose's youngest child. Almost every encounter we have with a person who suffers from addiction focuses primarily on their failed attempts to achieve sobriety, a typical life of crime to support their habit, and in some positive cases, their re-acclimation back into society and the monstrous task of maintaining a drug free life. We almost never dissect what the family of an addict experiences. I felt moved to write this book to offer a deep and personal look into how drug addiction has detrimental effects on the family members of addicts as well, particularly their children. This is my story. Let's rummage through every human emotion from fear and terror, to hope and despair, and finally freedom.This book will help you embrace your own life's challenges and learn to shed the shame of circumstances you couldn't or can't control, as you navigate how to live with other people's choices.

A National Book Critics Circle Finalist in Autobiography * Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award * Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by USA Today, Bitch Magazine, Parade, Salon and Ms. Magazine From a fierce and humorous new voice comes a relevant, insightful, and riveting collection of personal essays on the richness and resilience of black girl culture—for readers of Samantha Irby, Roxane Gay, Morgan Jerkins, and Lindy West. Shayla Lawson is major. You don’t know who she is. Yet. But that’s okay. She is on a mission to move black girls like herself from best supporting actress to a starring role in the major narrative. Whether she’s taking on workplace microaggressions or upending racist stereotypes about her home state of Kentucky, she looks for the side of the story that isn’t always told, the places where the voices of black girls haven’t been heard. The essays in This is Major ask questions like: Why are black women invisible to AI? What is “black girl magic”? Or: Am I one viral tweet away from becoming Twitter famous? And: How much magic does it take to land a Tinder date? With a unique mix of personal stories, pop culture observations, and insights into politics and history, Lawson sheds light on these questions, as well as the many ways black women and girls have influenced mainstream culture—from their style, to their language, and even their art—and how “major” they really are. Timely, enlightening, and wickedly sharp, This Is Major places black women at the center—no longer silenced, no longer the minority.

Black women and girls in the tech field face battles that often extend beyond academic performance or professional experience. Unapologetically Dope provides the lessons necessary to be successful yet still remain your most authentic self in a field where less than 1% of all graduates are Black women.

In this installment of the Dope Girl saga Cameisha and crew are faced with some difficult situations and decisions. Dasias' drug habit has come to light and must be addressed. Bilal has to choose between his career and the girl he loves. Jackie has decided to be a full fledged member and Aqua is still Aqua. Armed with a new synthetic coke the crew is set to become major players but not without a cost. The super drug gets user super high, but something is wrong, people are dying. Marisol makes a starting discovery that has a deadly price tag. Cameisha has a new man in her life who shares her ambition. With her product and his hustle they can't do anything but TURNUP!

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • “A must-read...Phoebe Robinson discusses race and feminism in such a funny, real, and specific way, it penetrates your brain and stays with you.”—Ilana Glazer, co-creator and co-star of Broad City A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson Being a black woman in America means contending with old prejudices and fresh absurdities every day. Comedian Phoebe Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: she's been unceremoniously relegated to the role of “the black friend,” as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she's been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel (“isn’t that...white people music?”); she's been called “uppity” for having an opinion in the workplace; she's been followed around stores by security guards; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. the. time. Now, she's ready to take these topics to the page—and she’s going to make you laugh as she’s doing it. Using her trademark wit alongside pop-culture references galore, Robinson explores everything from why Lisa Bonet is “Queen. Bae. Jesus,” to breaking down the terrible nature of casting calls, to giving her less-than-traditional advice to the future female president, and demanding that the NFL clean up its act, all told in the same conversational voice that launched her podcast, 2 Dope Queens, to the top spot on iTunes. As personal as it is political, You Can't Touch My Hair examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases with humor and heart, announcing Robinson as a writer on the rise. One of Glamour's “Top 10 Books of 2016”

“Dear Black Girl is the empowering, affirming love letter our girls need in order to thrive in a world that does not always protect, nurture, or celebrate us. This collection of Black women's voices… is a must-read, not only for Black girls, but for everyone who cares about Black girls, and for Black women whose inner-Black girl could use some healing.” –Tarana Burke, Founder of the ‘Me Too' Movement "Dear Dope Black Girl, You don't know me, but I know you. I know you because I am you! We are magic, light, and stars in the universe.” So begins a letter that Tamara Winfrey Harris received as part of her Letters to Black Girls project, where she asked black women to write honest, open, and inspiring letters of support to young black girls aged thirteen to twenty-one. Her call went viral, resulting in a hundred personal letters from black women around the globe that cover topics such as identity, self-love, parents, violence, grief, mental health, sex, and sexuality. In Dear Black Girl, Winfrey Harris organizes a selection of these letters, providing “a balm for the wounds of anti-black-girlness” and modeling how black women can nurture future generations. Each chapter ends with a prompt encouraging girls to write a letter to themselves, teaching the art of self-love and self-nurturing. Winfrey Harris's The Sisters Are Alright explores how black women must often fight and stumble their way into alrightness after adulthood. Dear Black Girl continues this work by delivering pro-black, feminist, LGBTQ+ positive, and body positive messages for black women-to-be—and for the girl who still lives inside every black woman who still needs reminding sometimes that she is alright.

In this installment of the Dope Girl saga Cameisha and crew are faced with some difficult situations and decisions. Dasias' drug habit has come to light and must be addressed. Bilal has to choose between his career and the girl he loves. Jackie has decided to be a full fledged mber and Aqua is still Aqua. Armed with a new synthetic coke the crew is set to become major players but not without a cost. The super drug gets the user super high, but something is wrong, people are dying. Marisol makes a startling discovery that has a deadly price tag. Cameisha has a new man in her life who shares her ambition. With her product and how hustle they can't do anything but TURN UP.

From the author of Come Closer and the Claire DeWitt series comes a highly acclaimed—and unusual—gritty thriller about a missing girl... and the addict tasked with saving her. Josephine, a former addict, is offered a thousand dollars to find a suburban couple’s missing daughter. But the search will take her into the dark underbelly of New York she thought she’d escaped—and a web of deceit that threatens to destroy her.