A Family in Paris: Stories of Food, Life and Adventure


Jane Paech - 2011
    It introduces us to the Parisians and their eccentricities, explores the intricate rituals of daily life, and takes us beyond the well-trodden tourist sites to the best eating spots, boutiques, museums and markets that only a local could know about.Frank, intimate and beautifully photographed, A Family in Paris is about making a home in a strange land, finding a community, and discovering the joy of renewal.

Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World, Smokin' Joe Frazier


Joe Frazier - 1996
    From 1970 to 1973 he reigned, and with his career record of 32-4-1 with 27 knockouts and an Olympic gold medal, Frazier leaves little question that he is one of the greatest fighters of all time.Well-known, loved and revered as a gentleman and a fierce competitor in the ring, Joe Frazier at last speaks his mind in Smokin' Joe -- about growing up poor to fighting in the first $2.5 million bout; about the early days of his friendship with Muhammad Ali and how their relationship changed; and about the often corrupt world of boxing and what really went on inside and outside the ring. Packed with stories that no one outside his family knows (such as the reason he was not drafted for Vietnam, his role in Ali's reinstatement, his biggest fear), Smokin' Joe will finally answer all the questions his fans have been wondering about -- his thoughts on George Foreman, Don King and Mike Tyson (among others), his training regimen and fight strategies, and much, much more -- thereby telling the tale of what it takes to be a champion and a legend. His good-hearted nature and uncanny ability to make you laugh come through as he weaves this story in his colorful style that is personable, funny and a real delight.The perfect gift for Father's Day, and published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "The Fight of the Century", Smokin' Joe will entertain and enthrall readers with the account of one of America's strongest treasures.

Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route


Saidiya Hartman - 2007
    She retraces the history of the Atlantic slave trade from the fifteenth to the twentieth century and reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy.There were no survivors of Hartman's lineage, nor far-flung relatives in Ghana of whom she had come in search. She traveled to Ghana in search of strangers. The most universal definition of the slave is a stranger--torn from kin and country. To lose your mother is to suffer the loss of kin, to forget your past, and to inhabit the world as a stranger. As both the offspring of slaves and an American in Africa, Hartman, too, was a stranger. Her reflections on history and memory unfold as an intimate encounter with places--a holding cell, a slave market, a walled town built to repel slave raiders--and with people: an Akan prince who granted the Portuguese permission to build the first permanent trading fort in West Africa; an adolescent boy who was kidnapped while playing; a fourteen-year-old girl who was murdered aboard a slave ship.Eloquent, thoughtful, and deeply affecting, Lose Your Mother is a powerful meditation on history, memory, and the Atlantic slave trade.

Napoleon and the Hundred Days


Stephen Coote - 2004
    Bonaparte had returned, and it would be just one hundred days before he met his enemies in a final, epic battle. In Napoleon and the Hundred Days, Stephen Coote vividly re-creates the rise and fall of Bonaparte's empire, and brings to life the characters who shaped it. With the eye of an historian and the dramatic style of a novelist, Coote describes how the path to war became inevitable and how, at the Battle of Waterloo, the fatigued but ever arrogant Napoleon met his match. This is a dazzling portrait of the legendary emperor, whose genius, courage, and tenacity won--and lost--him a vast empire.

Dynomite!: Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times--A Memoir


Jimmie Walker - 2012
    Starting in small clubs and eventually opening for Black Panther rallies, he ultimately became an icon playing J. J. Evans on Good Times. Walker was the first successful young black sitcom star, and his catchphrase--“Dyn-o-mite!”--remains an indicator of the era. He saw sudden and enormous fame in everything from comic books and a talking doll to pajamas, trading cards, a bestselling album, and TV Guide covers. In Dyn-o-mite!, Walker candidly talks about his rise and the considerable tensions on the set of Good Times that contradicted the show’s image of a close-knit, blue-collar family struggling to survive in the projects. Walker made “Dyn-o-mite!” a catchword for the Baby Boomer generation. Today, Dyn-o-mite! will inspire that same generation to rediscover what once made America great--the freedom of thought, the freedom of speech, and the belief in the individual.

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali


Mamadou Kouyaté
    Other tellings can be found under "all editions," each credited to its respective storyteller.

They Call Me Momma Katherine: How One Woman’s Brokenness Became Hope for Uganda’s Children


Katherine Hines - 2016
    After years of tragedies, Katherine learned that God could do more in her life than she ever imagined if she trusted Him and believed. She discovered that He wants to change lives through us and bless us in the process. Whoever we are, wherever we came from, God can use us to make a difference in someone’s life. Katherine’s story begins with tragedies, but God touched her heart at a crusade and led her to Uganda as a missionary to the children. Leaving her prestigious job and home, she went to a land of mud huts and polluted water. In the midst of sickness and poverty, she loved and cared for the orphans of the war-torn country, as she faced witch doctors and Muslim agitators. Katherine shares her life story to help us know that we can all make a difference – if only we let God . . . About the Author Katherine has been a missionary in Uganda for over 20 years and has been working in a village called Kamonkoli. She has worked to make a difference in the lives of children and has seen many grow into strong Christian leaders. This is a girl who says she was a “Nobody” but to God she was “Somebody.”

A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It


Stephen Kinzer - 2008
    Learn about President Kagame, who strives to make Rwanda the first middle-income country in Africa, in a single generation. In this adventurous tale, learn about Kagame's early fascination with Che Guevara and James Bond, his years as an intelligence agent, his training in Cuba and the United States, the way he built his secret rebel army, his bloody rebellion, and his outsized ambitions for Rwanda.

Marching With The Devil: My Five Years In The French Foreign Legion


David Mason - 2011
    

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons


Ann Rinaldi - 1996
    Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave--she becomes America’s first published black poet. “Strong characterization and perceptive realism mark this thoughtful portrayal.”--Booklist

The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela


Nelson Mandela - 2018
    During his 10,052 days of incarceration, the future leader of South Africa wrote a multitude of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials, and, most memorably, to his courageous wife, Winnie, and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters, many of which have never been published, provide exceptional insight into how Mandela maintained his inner spirits while living in almost complete isolation, and how he engaged with an outside world that became increasingly outraged by his plight.Organized chronologically and divided by the four venues in which he was held as a sentenced prisoner, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela begins in Pretoria Local Prison, where Mandela was held following his 1962 trial. In 1964, Mandela was taken to Robben Island Prison, where a stark existence was lightened only by visits and letters from family. After eighteen years, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, a large complex outside of Cape Town with beds and better food, but where he and four of his comrades were confined to a rooftop cell, apart from the rest of the prison population. Finally, Mandela was taken to Victor Verster Prison in 1988, where he was held until his release on February 11, 1990.With accompanying facsimiles of some of his actual letters, this landmark volume reveals how Mandela, a lawyer by training, advocated for prisoners’ human rights. It reveals him to be a loving father, who wrote to his daughter, “I sometimes wish science could invent miracles and make my daughter get her missing birthday cards and have the pleasure of knowing that her Pa loves her,” aware that photos and letters he sent had simply disappeared.More painful still are the letters written in 1969, when Mandela—forbidden from attending the funerals of his mother and his son Thembi—was reduced to consoling family members through correspondence. Yet, what emerges most powerfully is Mandela’s unfaltering optimism: “Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark grim, who try over and over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation even defeat.”Whether providing unwavering support to his also-imprisoned wife or outlining a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela reveals the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary punishment. Ultimately, these letters position Mandela as one of the most inspiring figures of the twentieth century. From The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela “A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms whose bodies are maimed in the course of contest.”“I am convinced that floods of personal disaster can never drown a determined revolutionary nor can the cumulus of misery that accompanies tragedy suffocate him.”“My respect for human beings is based, not on the colour of a man’s skin nor authority he may wield, but purely on merit.”“A good pen can also remind us of the happiest moments in our lives, bring noble ideas into our dens, our blood our souls. It can turn tragedy into hope victory.”

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany


Hans J. Massaquoi - 1999
    In 'Destined to Witness', Hans Massaquoi has crafted a beautifully rendered memoir -- an astonishing true tale of how he came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African and a German nurse, Hans remained behind with his mother when Hitler came to power, due to concerns about his fragile health, after his father returned to Liberia. Like other German boys, Hans went to school; like other German boys, he swiftly fell under the Führer's spell. So he was crushed to learn that, as a black child, he was ineligible for the Hitler Youth. His path to a secondary education and an eventual profession was blocked. He now lived in fear that, at any moment, he might hear the Gestapo banging on the door -- or Allied bombs falling on his home. Ironic, moving, and deeply human, Massaquoi's account of this lonely struggle for survival brims with courage and intelligence.

Dear Drama


Braya Spice - 2012
    Right is leading her down a dark path and bringing her nothing but pain.

Under Our Skin: A White Family's Journey through South Africa's Darkest Years


Donald McRae - 2012
    The McRaes, like so many white people, seemed oblivious to the violent injustices of apartheid. As the author grew up, the political differences between father and son widened and when Don refused to join up for National Service, risking imprisonment or exile overseas, the two were torn apart. It wasn't until years later that the author discovered that the father with whom he had fought so bitterly had later in his life transformed himself into a political hero. Risking everything one dark and rainy night Ian McRae travelled secretly into the black township of Soweto to meet members of Nelson Mandela's then banned African National Congress to discuss ways to bring power to black South Africa. He had no political ambitions; he was just a man trying to replace the worst in himself with something better.Under Our Skin is a memoir of these tumultuous years in South Africa's history, as told through the author's family story. It offers an intimate and penetrating perspective on life under apartheid, and tells a story of courage and fear, hope and desolation and love and pain, especially between a father and his son.

Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson


Annye C. Anderson - 2020
    And yet, while his music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, much remains unknown about the man who penned and played these timeless tunes. Few people alive today actually remember what Johnson was really like, and those who do have largely upheld their silence-until now.In Brother Robert, nonagenarian Annye Anderson sheds new light on a real-life figure largely obscured by his own legend: her kind and incredibly talented stepbrother, Robert Johnson. This book chronicles Johnson's unconventional path to stardom-from the harrowing story behind his illegitimate birth, to his first strum of the guitar on Anderson's father's knee, to the genre-defining recordings that would one day secure his legacy. Along the way, readers are gifted not only with Anderson's personal anecdotes, but with colorful recollections passed down to Anderson by members of their family-the people who knew Johnson best. Readers also learn about the contours of his working life in Memphis, never-before-disclosed details about his romantic history, and all of Johnson's favorite things, from foods and entertainers to brands of tobacco and pomade. Together, these stories don't just bring the mythologized Johnson back down to earth; they preserve both his memory and his integrity.For decades, Anderson and her family have ignored the tall tales of Johnson "selling his soul to the devil" and the speculative to fictionalized accounts of his life that passed for biography. Brother Robert is here to set the record straight. Featuring a foreword by Elijah Wald and a Q&A with Anderson, Lauterbach, Wald, and Peter Guralnick, this book paints a vivid portrait of an elusive figure who forever changed the musical landscape as we know it.