Black women comedians are more visible than ever, performing around the world in physical venues like comedy clubs and festivals, along with appearing in films, streaming specials, and online videos. Across these mediums, humor—and particularly sass—functions as a tool for Black women to articulate and redress cultural, social, and political marginalization. J Finley theorizes sass as a new critical lens to better understand the power of Black women's humor and humanity and explores how sass functions as a powerful resource in Black women's expressive repertoire. Challenging mainstream assumptions about "sassiness" as an identity or personality trait to which Black women humorists may be reduced, Finley deploys sass to create a new genre of discourse for understanding the ways in which Black women use language, style, gesture, and intent to produce meaning—often humorous—in speaking back to authority. Grounded in an ethnographic approach to Black women's experiences, Finley conducted extensive interviews as well as participant-observation as a critic, audience member, and comic herself to collect and honor the stories that Black women comics tell about themselves. Interdisciplinary and conceptually rigorous, Finley's work shows us how we can and should read Black women's expressions of sass in humor as attempts at social transformation that involve a fundamental critique of power and authority, and a gesture at collective liberation.

It was a different day, a different time, and a different era when Verner Reid entered the world inside a one-room shack with a dirt floor as the sun welcomed her through a rag-covered hole. Born into a tiny Negro community in the heart of the Delta, Verner grew up idolizing Eartha Kitt, struggling to endure poverty, and learning to rely on her intuition to survive. In a heartbreaking yet inspirational memoir, Verner leads others through the journey of her life as she moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration and overcame childhood sexual trauma, an abusive marriage, and a rape to courageously carve her own path in television as a talk show host and later complete her education as a nontraditional student. As she reveals a glimpse into the betrayals, treachery, unfaithfulness, bigotry, and discrimination she endured while pursuing her passion, Verner shines a light on her determination to be a woman of substance, despite her personal challenges. (Shes) A Woman of Substance shares the true story of one womans experiences as she navigated from a poverty-stricken childhood in the rural South to pursue her dreams.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Over 10 million copies sold In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

To some men, Corrections Officer Sean Daniels would be considered the luckiest guy in the world. He has two gorgeous ladies vying for his attention. Corrections Officer Yadira Cruz is a feisty hot tamale with a history of failed relationships. After a bad breakup with her daughter's father, she sets her sights on Sean. The sex is sizzling, but is Sean ready to give her the commitment she's looking for? Brandi Wallace is a single mom whose nineteen-year-old son, Shamari, is serving time at Rikers Island. On the outside, Brandi is poised, polished, and a knock-out! On the inside, she's hiding a violent past. Sean feels a connection with Brandi, and the need to protect her. Sean might think he's having some harmless fun as he toys with their affections, but what he doesn't know is that each of these women is playing for keeps, and neither one is willing to lose. When Yadira and Brandi learn that Sean's been playing them both, a deadly game begins. The stakes are high, and Sean is the prize. In the fight for his heart, will these two kill each other, or will Sean become the next victim?

"After living ten years of hell, CHYNA BLACK's break up with Tyreik left her EMOTIONALLY UNAVAILABLE. She didn't think she would ever be able to love again. Fuckin' and smokin' her way through the pain, she became a HEARTLESS monster. Then, before she knew it, Carlos entered her world and turned it upside down. Their love moved at lightning speed and then crashed and burned before her eyes. Unable to cope with the deafening ringing in her ears, Chyna needs RADIO SILENCE. As she tried to pick up the pieces of her life, in walked L.A. All along, he'd been there... waiting for her to realize he was all the man she'd ever need. Once Chyna is finally ready to open up her heart and give him her all, like running water, he slips right through her fingers. Time isn't on her side, the walls are closing in, and Chyna's back is up against the wall. Retreating to her old ways is the only way she knows how to cope. To everyone else, Chyna seems like an emotionally unavailable, heartless, cold-hearted bitch who craves radio silence, but to Chyna and the people that matter most, she's SUCH A FUCKIN' LADY!"-- Page 4 of cover.

An extended study of the writings of Lil' Kim, the multi-platinum selling Hip Hop artist. Examines Lil' Kim's anti-sexist, gender-defiant and ultra-erotic verse alongside issues of race and the politics of imprisonment. This is the first study to apply the tools of literary criticism to Hip Hop's lyrical writings.

Meredith was promised nine years of safety, but they only gave her three. Her father, who was sent to prison for sexually abusing Meredith and other children in the small town, has been released early on good behaviour. He was supposed to be locked up until Meredith's eighteenth birthday, when she would be free of her abusive father and her delusional mother, who dwells on a fantasy that the three of them will be a happy family once more. But Meredith is only fifteen, and her father is out of prison…and her mother is bringing him home. And Meredith won't let him hurt her, or anyone else, ever again. No matter what the cost. Lyrical, suspenseful, and emotionally shattering, SUCH A PRETTY GIRL is the compelling story of one young woman's painful fight for survival - and her journey back to herself.

Working at Miami's Queen of Diamonds gentleman's club to support herself until turning twenty-one, Desirae discovers her talent for rap music and becomes famous seemingly overnight, before her success is threatened by a rival newcomer and a friend's brutal murder.

There was a time when I didn't care about anybody, not even myself. Oh, and who am I? I'm Chyna, Chyna Danea Black to be more exact.I'm here to tell you my story, but for you to fully understand me, you have to understand my past. You see, I'm every black girl growing up in the hood, and like most, I got caught up in the life. Some things I didn't see coming. Other things were self-inflicted. I don't regret my path in life but I could have taken a different one. So, for all the young girls growing up in the hood, let me take you back to how I grew up.Here are the Life & Times of me,Chyna Black.

Emblematic of change and transgression, the trickster has inappropriately become the methodological tool for conservative cultural studies analysis, Mutha' is Half a Word strives to break that convention.