Poet Brian Gilmore has brought forth a collection that is truly original. His writing is both mischievous and militant. Gilmore covers serious issues with a sarcastic humor and shifts to gentle passion in his love poems. In Elvis, Gilmore speaks to stealing, bigotry, and the exploitation of Black people with a sense of style that is politically keen. --Third World Press.

An outline to the African American poetic conversation of the 1990s, Spirit and Flame is the first intergenerational volume of African American poetry with an expressly contemporary focus since the numerous and influential black poetry anthologies of the 1960s and 1970s. A collection of numerous forms (jazz stylings to haiku) and topics (middle passage to 0. J.), this present gathering of fifty-three significant poets, among them Amiri Baraka, Rita Dove, Nikky Finney, Ruth Forman, Haki Madhubuti, Tony Medina, E. Ethelbert Miller, Sonia Sanchez, Quincy Troupe, and Patricia Smith, illustrates both the vibrancy of the African American experience and the talented and current poetic response that is part and parcel of it.

One hero will risk it all to save the world . . . and the woman he loves. In late World War I France, disillusioned American soldier and musician Sgt. David Pierce fights the German enemy and tours the French countryside with the famed Harlem Hellfighters Band. These “Men of Bronze” ae not only brave soldiers, but talented musicians who are conquering Europe with a secret weapon—Jazz. In a cruel irony, David and his fellow soldiers are forbidden to serve in the war as Americans; instead, they fight for a grateful French army. As he battles in the trenches and with the relentless color line, David also has an unfinished war raging back home in the U.S. Facing an uncertain—yet certainly unhappy—future, he meets a woman who will change his life forever. However, her secrets challenge everything David believes about love, duty and sacrifice. How far will he go to win on all fronts?

A breathtaking poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent and promising Black poets and writers of our time, edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander. In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of contemporary anthems at turns tender and piercing and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Morgan Parker, and Nikki Giovanni, This Is the Honey is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy, “each incantation,” as Mahogany L. Browne puts it in her titular poem, is “a jubilee of a people dreaming wildly.” This essential collection, in the tradition of Dudley Randall’s The Black Poets and E. Ethelbert Miller’s In Search of Color Everywhere, contains poems exploring joy, love, origin, race, resistance, and praise. Jacqueline A.Trimble likens “Black woman joy” to indigo, tassels, foxes, and peacock plumes. Tyree Daye, Nate Marshall, and Elizabeth Acevedo reflect on the meaning of “home” through food, from Cuban rice and beans to fried chicken gizzards. Clint Smith and Cameron Awkward-Rich enfold us in their intimate musings on love and devotion. From a “jewel in the hand” (Patricia Spears Jones) to “butter melting in small pools” (Elizabeth Alexander), This Is the Honey drips with poignant and delightful imagery, music, and raised fists. Fresh, memorable, and deeply moving, this definitive collection a must-have for any lover of language and a gift for our time.

Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry. “Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.” –Tony Medina, from the Introduction

In 1965 Dudley F. Randall founded the Broadside Press, a company devoted to publishing, distributing and promoting the works of black poets and writers. In so doing, he became a major player in the civil rights movement. Hundreds of black writers were given an outlet for their work and for their calls for equality and black identity. Though Broadside was established on a minimal budget, Randall's unique skills made the press successful. He was trained as a librarian and had spent decades studying and writing poetry; most importantly, Randall was totally committed to the advancement of black literature. The famous and relatively unknown sought out Broadside, including such writers as Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Mae Jackson, Lance Jeffers, Etheridge Knight, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde and Sterling D. Plumpp. His story is one of battling to promote black identity and equality through literature, and thus lifting the cultural lives of all Americans.

Here, for the first time anywhere, is a precise measurement of a celebrity's impact on American culture. This annotated, highly readable listing details the verified book titles, magazines, dissertations, and significant articles about Elvis Presley. The entries show that Elvis was more than just a popular-culture phenomenon. Besides documentation of his concerts, the food he ate, and posthumous Elvis sightings, here is the proof of Elvis's impact on every aspect of American life: his invention of rock 'n' roll; his spurring of the sexual revolution; his influence on the civil rights movement; how his death changed the media's treatment of celebrities; and how a new religion devoted to Elvis has become part of the mainstream.

This guide to the biographical literature available on popular 20th-century singers covers nearly 1000 artists. Much of the literature cited is also cross-referenced to major biographical dictionaries, encyclopedias, and relevant periodicals. Entries not only list known publications associated with popular singers but also incorporate elements of analytical and descriptive bibliography. The artists included in this volume increasingly cross musical boundaries. The popular singer category, therefore, encompasses Broadway, Hollywood, cabaret, and operetta performers as well as recording artists. Scholars of popular music and popular music enthusiasts will appreciate the extensive research this work embodies. Divided among three sections, citations are arranged alphabetically and include information about literature published through 1997. An appendix of additional artists and an index complete the volume.

Penned by a South African who observed and absorbed the culture of African Americans.