ABRAMS
The Art of Romare Bearden (Sept., $50) by Ruth E. Fine showcases examples of Bearden's work as well as essays on his African sources, examples of his writings and his place in art and culture; accompanies a traveling retrospective exhibit at museums around the country.
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self (Dec., $40) by Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis investigates the impact that photography has had on race and racial identity in America; accompanies a national touring exhibition prepared by the International Center of Photography in New York.
AGATE PUBLISHING
What Is Cool?: Understanding Black Manhood in America (Sept., paper $12.95) by Marlene Connor uncovers cool's history and reveals it as a code of behaviors and attitudes shaping the conception of manhood among young black boys.
Black and Single: Meeting and Choosing a Partner Who's Right for You (Nov., paper $13.95) by Dr. Larry E. Davis. Revised and updated third edition of the relationship guide for African-Americans.
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Purple Hibiscus (Oct., $23.95) by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie is a first novel about a young woman, her family and Nigeria, all on the eve of change.
AMISTAD PRESS
The Known World (Sept., $ 24.95) by Edward Jones. A black bookmaker and former slave in antebellum Virginia becomes proprietor of his own plantation—as well as his own slaves. National Book Award Finalist.
Small Nation of People: W.E.B. Du Bois & African American Portraits of Progress (Sept., $24.95) by the Library of Congress with essays by David Levering Lewis and Deborah Willis gathers a cache of photographs selected by W.E.B. Du Bois for display during the 1900 International Exposition in Paris.
Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues (Jan., $24.95) by Elijah Wald uses Robert Johnson as a springboard to re-examine whether black or white America "owns" the blues.
When Washington Was in Vogue: A Love Story (Jan., $23.95) by Edward Christopher Williams. Lost for more than 75 years and only recently discovered, this book depicts black high society in Washington, D.C., during the Harlem Renaissance.
AND BOOKS
Louisiana: A Musical Treasure (Mar., paper $29.95) by Bernard Kamoroff provides an oral history of the music and musicians of Louisiana, from the early jazz pioneers to today's musicians, covering 100 years of history.
APPLAUSE THEATRE & CINEMA BOOKS
The Impact of Race: Theatre and Culture (Jan., $26.95) by Woodie King Jr. explores the politics of art, the funding for black organizations, the way awards are handed out, the critics' reviews of black theater and more.
ATRIA BOOKS
Skyscraper: A Novel (Oct., $24) by Zane delivers a rollicking saga of steamy interoffice romance and high-stakes business competition.
A Wealth of Wisdom (Jan., $27.95) by Camille Cosby and Renée Pouissant with portraits by Howard Bingham, collects wisdom and culture from stories and experiences of 54 African-American leaders over the age of 70.
Laelia, a Novel (Jan., $22) by Ruth Miriam Garnett is a debut novel about three African-American sisters who decide to do what many wives only dream about: get a fresh start on life.
The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love (Jan., $23) by bell hooks takes on the interior lives of men and answers their most intimate questions about love.
Evolution of a Revolutionary: Conversations with Afeni Shakur (Feb., $25) by Jasmine Guy presents a series of dialogues revealing the moral and spiritual development of the activist and mother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
Meet Me at the Theresa: The Story of Harlem's Most Famous Hotel (Feb., $25) by Sondra Kathryn Wilson revives mid-century Harlem for a portrait of the legendary hotel where everyone from Langston Hughes to Fidel Castro came for the most storied nightlife in the world.
BALLANTINE
Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero (Dec., $24.95) by Kate Clifford Larson presents new details about the accomplishments, personal life and influence of the heroic fugitive slave, Civil War spy, nurse and soldier.
BALLANTINE/ONE WORLD
Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do (Sept., $23.95) by Pearl Cleage is a novel of romance, family secrets, sisterhood and unexpected love.
The Shade of My Own Tree (Sept., paper $12.95) by Sheila Williams is a novel about one woman's journey to reinvent her life.
Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire (Jan., $24.95) by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines details the life story of the forefather of black American entrepreneurship and one of America's first black millionaires.
BANTAM
Dr. Ro's Ten Secrets to Livin' Healthy (Dec., $22.95) by Rovenia M. Brock outlines health problems that threaten African-Americans and reveals the disease-fighting properties of healthy foods and lifestyle choices.
True Fires (Dec., $23.95) by Susan Carol McCarthy is a novel inspired by actual events, offering a journey into the heart of racial segregation and the unlikely alliance that helps heal a child's broken heart.
BASIC
Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi's Dark Past: A Memoir (Sept., $26) by W. Ralph Eubanks chronicles the author's coming of age in Mississippi in the civil rights era and takes a look at the once secret files of the State Sovereignty Commission.
BASIC CIVITAS
Harriet Jacobs: A Life (Jan., $27.50) by Jean Fagan Yellin recounts the events that inspired Jacobs's 19th-century book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and offers a picture of her life in the 36 years after the book's publication. Author tour.
The Michael Eric Dyson Reader (Jan., $29.95) by Michael Eric Dyson gathers the best of his incisive commentary, stirring passages and probing critical analyses. Author tour.
BEACH HOLME PUBLISHING
(dist. by Lit Dist. Co.)
Kameleon Man (Nov., paper $15.95) by Kim Barry Brunhuber. Written by a black former Ford male model, this novel tells the story of a male model who is part black, part white.
BEACON PRESS
Kindred (Feb., paper $14) by Octavia Butler. This is the 25th anniversary edition of the classic time-travel novel in which a 20th-century black woman experiences the brutalities of 19th-century slavery. 6-city author tour.
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Shades of Black: Mystery Stories by African American Authors (Feb., $23.95), edited by Eleanor Taylor Bland, gathers 22 tales of crime and justice by some of today's top African-American writers, including Walter Mosley, Penny Micklebury, Anthony Bland and Gar Anthony Haywood.
BET/ARABESQUE
Flying High (Sept., paper $6.99) by Gywnne Forster. A U.S. marine returns from Afghanistan with the sole ambition of becoming a four-star general—until he surrenders to love.
If Loving You Is Wrong (Oct., paper $6.99) by Louré Bussey. An award-winning film director finds his new relationship with a screenwriter put to the test when she's accused of murder.
BET/NEW SPIRIT
Promises Beyond Truth (Feb., paper $15) by Vanessa Davis Griggs. As a pastor prepares for his upcoming wedding, an unforeseen tragedy and a shocking revelation reopen painful scars and create fresh wounds that could change four lives. 12-city author tour.
BLACK WORDS PRESS
Walk Like a Natural Man (Oct., $24.95) by M. Dion Thompson. In the 1930s, when an 18-year-old orphan from a small segregated Texas town travels to Hollywood, his search for stardom is transformed into a life-changing struggle for his soul.
JOHN F. BLAIR
Weren't No Good Times: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Alabama (Feb., paper $10.95), edited by Horace Randall Williams, gathers 44 compelling interviews with former Alabama slaves conducted in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project.
BLOOMSBURY USA
Dive (Mar., $23.95) by Lisa Teasley. A construction worker with a criminal past and a freewheeling L.A. animator who stumbles upon a bloody crime scene meet in Alaska where both are in search of new lives.
BULFINCH PRESS
Style and Grace: African Americans at Home (Sept., $35) by Michael Henry Adams with photos by Mick Hales takes a look at the homes of notable African-Americans who have used cultural elements and icons to create gorgeous home environments.
CAREER PRESS
The Complete Startup Guide for the Black Entrepreneur (Mar., paper $15.99) by Bill Boudreaux equips minority entrepreneurs with the business know-how they need to beat the odds.
CHECKMARK BOOKS
Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Sept., paper $21.95) by Aberjhani and Sandra L. West is a guide to the colorful and culturally productive era in African-American history known as the Harlem Renaissance.
CITADEL PRESS
Celebrating Our Equality: A Cookbook with Recipes and Remembrances from Howard University (Nov., $24.95) by Carolyn Q. Tillery offers a unique array of recipes and history from the oldest of the country's African-American colleges.
Zainabu's African Cookbook: With Food and Stories (Jan., paper $14.95) by Zainabu Kpaka Kallon presents a healthy collection of foods, traditions, recipes and myths from all parts of Africa.
CORNELL MARITIME PRESS
Down on the Shore: The Family and Place That Forged a Poet's Voice (Sept., paper $15.95) by Adele Holden recalls her African-American family's life during the Depression, including her father's bold work to further the education of the black children in a small, segregated rural town on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
CROWN
Partners to History: Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and the Civil Rights Movement (Oct., $29.95) by Donzaleigh Abernathy. An intimate photographic memoir of the Civil Rights movement, told by the daughter of Ralph David Abernathy, longtime friend and partner to Dr. King.
Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul (Mar., $24) by Craig Werner relates the story of the artists' lives and music, the traditions that inspired them and their lasting contributions to American culture.
DAFINA
One Flesh (Nov., paper $15) by Clarence Major. One day a beautiful Chinese-American woman walks into the life of a reclusive workaholic painter—and everything changes.
Player Haters (Feb., $24) by Carl Weber. Trent Duncan—charming, smooth-talking and jobless, the ultimate player—is about to face two of his ex-girlfriends who will make him wish he'd listened to his momma.
A Meeting in the Ladies Room (Mar., $24) by Anita D. Diggs. When Manhattan book editor Jackie becomes an unlikely suspect in her boss's murder, she is forced to betray the trust of the dead woman—and possibly her own scruples.
Havoc After Dark (Mar., paper $14) by Robert Fleming. This collection of short stories challenges the traditional horror genre by taking real-life horrors from today's headlines and turning them into frightening fictional explorations into slavery, war and capital punishment.
IVAN R. DEE
Fleeing for Freedom: Stories from the Underground Railroad as Told by Levi Coffin and William Still (Feb., $24.95), edited by George and Willene Hendrick, includes narratives describing the experiences of escaped slaves making their way to freedom in the North and in Canada in the years before the Civil War.
DUKE UNIV. PRESS
Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection of African American Art (Nov.; $49.95, paper $24.95) provides a look at the lifelong art collection of the professional basketball star, including works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Phoebe Beasly, Arthello Beck Jr. and others; coincides with a traveling nationwide exhibition.
DUTTON
Naughty or Nice (Oct., $17.95) by Eric Jerome Dickey is a holiday novel told in alternating voices.
Swerve: Reckless Observations by a Post-Modern Girl (Feb., $21.95) by Aisha Tyler. The comedienne and actress provides a provocative, hilarious and empowering collection of essays on dating, sex, style and the cool confidence every woman needs to succeed.
ESSENCE BOOKS
Wisdom of the Ages: Extraordinary People 19 to 90 (Dec., $24.95) by the editors of Essence magazine presents both celebrities and everyday people sharing their stories of love, faith, overcoming challenges and taking charge of their lives.
THE FREE PRESS
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Celebration of Black Prayer (Nov., $27.50) by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture offers an unprecedented celebration of the diverse and vital traditions within the African and African-American religious experience.
Finding Grace: Two Sisters and the Search for Meaning Beyond the Color Line (Jan., $25) by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip pushes further into the terrain of racial "passing" by exploring her family's confrontation with its own history.
GENESIS PRESS
A Lark on the Wing (Sept., paper $8.95) by Phyliss Hamilton. A couple struggles with each wanting the other to somehow make up for the hurts and broken promises that littered their pasts.
Just an Affair (Nov., paper $8.95) by Eugenia O'Neal. Caryl's escape to an island leaves her with amnesia and sends her back to the arms of the married man she ran from.
GOTHAM BOOKS
Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care (Oct., $26) by John McWhorter traces the decline of language in contemporary America, arguing that casual everyday speech has conquered the formal in all forms of communication.
HARPERCOLLINS
Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America (Sept., $25.95) by Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden reveals that a large number of African-American women feel pressure to compromise their true selves in order to fit into American society.
LT: Over the Edge—Tackling Quarterbacks, Drugs, and a World Beyond Football (Nov., $24.95) by Lawrence Taylor and Steve Serby offers up the rise-and-fall-and-rise-again memoir of reckless Hall of Fame legend Taylor.
HARPER SAN FRANCISCO
Living Water: A Novel (Jan., paper $14.95) by Obery Hendricks portrays a young woman's search for identity set against the strict social confines of biblical times. 10,000 first printing. 5-city book tour.
To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sacred Mission to Save America: 1955—1968 (Jan., $27.95) by Stewart Burns draws on inside knowledge of Dr. King's life and work to paint an intimate portrait revealing his view of the movement as a sacred mission.
HAY HOUSE/MOUNTAIN MOVERS PRESS
Bodychange: The 21-Day Fitness Program for Changing Your Body and Changing Your Life (Sept., $19.95) by Montel Williams and Wini Linguvic. The talk show host and his personal trainer show how to find the athlete within.
LAWRENCE HILL BOOKS
Working While Black: The Black Person's Guide to Success in the White Workplace (Jan., paper $14.95) by Michelle T. Johnson examines the obstacles unique to black Americans and offers practical advice and suggestions for overcoming them.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Dream Me Home Safely: Writers on Growing Up in America (Oct., paper $13), edited by Marian Wright Edelman. Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, Anna Quindlen, Lois Lowry, Nikki Giovanni, Ntozake Shange, Joyce Carol Oates and many more write on their own American childhoods.
HYPERION
A Sunday in June (Feb., $21.95) by Phyllis Alesia Perry is a tale of a black couple in early 20th-century Alabama who must confront their own fears about their daughters' gift of seeing the unseen and knowing the past and future.
LA CAILLE NOUS PUBLISHING
(dist. by Biblio Distribution)
Pick-Up Lines (Jan., paper $15) by Michael T. Owens introduces two 20-somethings seeking happiness, told from a male and female perspective. 11-city author tour. 4-city radio tour. 6-city book club tour.
LIV LAKAY
(dist. by Biblio Distribution)
revolution | revolisyon | révolution 1800—2004: An Artistic Commemoration of the Haitian Revolution (Jan., paper $25), edited by Ella Turenne, is an anthology in English, Kreyol and French celebrating, illustrating and explaining Haiti's independence through art.
HAL LEONARD CORPORATION
Squeeze My Lemon: A Collection of Classic Blues Lyrics (Sept., paper $14.95) by Randy Poe quotes more than 160 classic blues lyrics by well-known artists such as B.B. King, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Billie Holiday and Ma Rainey.
Hip-Hop & Rap: Complete Lyrics for 175 Songs (Dec., paper $18.95), preface by Spence D, provides a glimpse into inner-city life through the rap music lyrics of 100 artists, which run the gamut from clever rhyme patterns and lighthearted party fare to gangsta vérité.
LITTLE, BROWN
The Man in My Basement ( Jan., $22.95) by Walter Mosley weaves a tale of a destitute black man who accepts an offer of $50,000 to live in a white businessman's basement.
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (Feb., $27.95) by Catherine Clinton draws from the most up-to-date resources to illustrate new and profound insights into the daily lives of slaves.
MANIC D PRESS
(dist. by Publishers Group West)
Red, White, Black and Blue: a (th)ink anthology (Feb., paper $11.95) by Keith Knight features single-panel cartoons lampooning race relations, politics and more.
Fears of Your Life (Feb., $12.95) by Michal Bernard Loggins. A humorous work by an author with developmental disabilities, who battles his fears by listing and exploring more than 138 of them.
MAXAMILLIAN PUBLISHING
(7/d W. 15th St., Chicago, Ill. 60605; 312-842-0400)
Love Notes (Oct., paper $7.99) by Reginald Dunlop. A Chicago jazz pianist is distraught after losing the love of his life—until she begins to speak to him from heaven through songs.
MCGRAW-HILL
Open My Eyes, Open My Soul: Celebrating Our Common Humanity (Jan., paper $14.95) by Yolanda King with Elodia Tate gathers stories and poems that celebrate human diversity and multiculturalism, including accounts of experiences overcoming racism that led the various authors to a renewed vision of humanity. 25-city radio satellite tour.
METROPOLITAN BOOKS
Knee Deep in Wonder: A Novel (Sept., $23) by April Reynolds weaves past and present into a novel about four generations of fear and longing in the deep South.
MTV POCKET BOOKS
A Hip-Hop Story (Oct., paper $13.95) by Heru Ptah is a novel in which the line between art and life is blurred for two ambitious MCs whose battle to be number one is fought with weapons and words.
From Pieces to Weight (Feb., $22.50) by 50 Cent describes his childhood in New York, his life on the street, and his rise to fame, featuring previously unpublished poetry and lyrics.
The Black Book (Mar., $24) by Jay-Z is a memoir in which the rapper opens up about his mysterious past, which he's been reluctant to address in the press.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOKS
Africana Woman: Her Story Through Time (Nov., $40) by Cynthia Jacobs Carter tells the stories of remarkable women—from queens of antiquity to modern politicians—who have triumphed over adversity and influenced the political, social and cultural structures of the societies in which they lived.
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
Climbing Higher (Jan., $25.95) by Montel Williams with Lawrence Grobel is an insightful, personal and inspired look at the talk-show host's career and determination to lead a productive life despite his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Lawless (Jan., $24.95) by Christopher Darden and Dick Lochte is a legal thriller in which a young lawyer at a prestigious African-American firm is assigned to the case of an L.A. cop who has shot and killed his wife.
The Perfect Blend (Jan., paper $13.95) by C. Kelly Robinson weaves the lives of a reformed player and his devoted new wife with those of an old flame and her reckless lover as well as a conservative radio host and his sexy secret.
NEW YORK UNIV. PRESS
An Anthology of Interracial Literature (Feb.; $80, paper $28), edited by Werner Sollors, explores centuries of world literature to examine the literary theme of black-white encounters, of love and family stories that cross—or are crossed by—what came to be considered racial boundaries.
PALGRAVE
The Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool (Oct., $29.95) by Brenda Dixon Gottschild presents a history of black dance in America as told through the bodies of the performers.
Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock 'n' Roll (Jan., paper $17.95), edited by Kandia Crazy Horse, looks at the complex racial dynamics underlying the history of black rock.
PANTHEON
The End of Blackness (Jan., $24) by Debra Dickerson contends that blacks are preventing themselves from progressing and challenges them to "free each other."
PENGUIN
A Love Supreme (Nov., paper $15) by Ashley Kahn looks at the genesis, creation and aftermath of the classic John Coltrane record through interviews with nearly everyone involved with the album.
PICADOR
Monsieur de Saint-George: Rediscovering the Life of the Black Mozart (Dec., $26) by Alain Guédé is the biography of the son of an African slave who rose to the top of French society through his mastery of fencing and classical music.
Regarding the Pain of Others (Feb., paper $11) by Susan Sontag takes a fresh look at representations of brutality, from Goya's The Disasters of War to photographs of the American Civil War and lynching of blacks in the South.
My Brother's Keeper (Sept., paper $12) by ReShonda Tate Billingsley is a poignant novel about a resilient family learning that sometimes forgiveness needs to happen in order to find the strength to move on.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Slave: My True Story (Jan., $25) by Mende Nazer with Damien Lewis tells the true story of a 23-year-old woman, kidnapped from her African tribal village, who survived seven years of slavery in Sudan and London before making a courageous escape to freedom.
PUTNAM
Follow the Star: Christmas Stories That Changed My Life (Nov., paper $14.95) by T.D. Jakes shares the Christmas stories that touched the author's heart and shaped his life.
LYNNE RIENNER
Borrowing Inequality: Race, Class and Student Loans (Jan., $45) by Derek V. Price explores the real impact of college loans on minority and low-income students.
ROUTLEDGE
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope (Sept.; $75, paper $17.95) by bell hooks invites readers to extend the discourse of race, gender class and nationality beyond the classroom into everyday situations of learning.
That's the Joint! The Hip Hop Studies Reader (Mar.; $95, paper $24.95), edited by Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, brings together influential writings on rap and hip-hop from its beginnings to today, spanning nearly 25 years of scholarship, criticism and journalism.
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Talley's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men (Sept.; $55, paper $15.95) by Elliot Liebow is a new edition of the 1967 classic text documenting the work experience and family life of black street-corner men in a Washington, D.C., ghetto.
SEAL PRESS
Sometimes Rhythm Sometimes Blues: Young African American Writers on Love, Sex, Relationships and the Search for Mr. Right (Feb., paper $15.95), edited by Taigi Smith, examines the state of relationships through 25 first-person essays addressing education, economics and the role rap music has played in the way black men perceive black women.
SEVEN STORIES PRESS
Sleepaway School (Mar., $21.95) by Lee Stringer recounts his years at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls—a school for kids at risk—and the painful events that led up to them. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 marketing budget. 9-city author tour.
SIGNET
A Whole Lotta Love (Jan., paper $6.99) by Donna Hill et al. is an anthology featuring uplifting stories about bold and beautiful plus-sized women looking for love.
SIMON & SCHUSTER
Night Journey: A Novel (Oct., $23) by Murad Kalam records the disillusionment of a young boxer as well as the dreams and frustrations of an entire generation.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (Feb., $25) by Allen C. Guelzo employs letters, papers and little-known accounts to examine Lincoln's purposes in planning and issuing the proclamation, and identifies the sources and sequence of the proclamation's creation. Advertising.
S&S/FIRESIDE
Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear (Sept., paper $12) by Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett discusses the factors that contribute to black women's anxiety and fear and offers a range of healing methods.
S&S/TOUCHSTONE
God's Gift to Women (Oct., paper $13) by Michael Baisden tells the tale of a good-looking, smooth-talking radio talk-show host who must deal with the consequences of sex with a stranger.
The Blueprint for My Girls: How to Build a Life Full of Courage, Determination & Self Love (Feb., paper $12) by Yasmin Shiraz addresses the most crucial issues facing young women today, offering 99 self-validating expressions to help young women build confidence and self-respect.
SOFT SKULL PRESS
How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office: A Road Trip to Power (Jan., paper $11.95), edited by William Upski Wimsatt and Adrienne Brown, outlines practical strategies for youth to make a difference in their neighborhood, district, city, state and country. 50,000 first printing. 50-city author tour.
Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop Culture (Feb., paper $12.95) by Yvonne Bynoe affirms the need for a new generation of black leadership to actively engage in a policy-centered relationship with the white power structure.
SOHO PRESS
The Darkest Child (Jan., $26) by Delores Phillips. In segregated Georgia, a girl's worst tormentor is the beautiful light-skinned mother she loves and fears.
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS
One Day I Saw a Black King: A Novel (Sept., $19.95) by J.D. Mason. A man and a woman must confront their pasts in order to build on the promise of a future together.
Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity—and My Journey to Freedom in America (Oct., $24.95) by Francis Bok with Edward Tivnan chronicles the story of a young Sudanese man who escaped bondage in 1996 to become one of America's advocates for those who remain enslaved.
ST. MARTIN'S/GRIFFIN
All I Need to Get By: A Novel (Mar., paper $13.95) by Sophfronia Scott. A successful woman must confront two powerful men from her childhood: Linc, her destructive brother with whom she shares a dark secret, and Tree, her first love.
ST. MARTIN'S MINOTAUR
Rendezvous Eighteenth: A Novel (Nov., $24.95) by Jake Lamar is a tale of revenge, murder, a black man's alienation and redemption and a detailed portrait of a complex community in Paris.
Stone Cribs (Feb., $24.95) by Kris Nelscott. In 1969 Chicago, when the victim of a brutal rape is nearly killed, only Smokey Dalton cares enough to help the victim—and find her rapist. 4-city author tour.
STATE UNIV. OF NEW YORK PRESS
Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities (Jan.; $57.50, paper $18.95) by Ricky L. Jones examines the hazing rituals of five fraternities.
Race, Class, and the Postindustrial City: William Julius Wilson and the Promise of Sociology (Feb.; $65.50, paper $21.95) by Frank Harold Wilson offers an overview and critical appraisal of the work of the influential sociologist and public intellectual.
STEWART, TABORI & CHANG
Alvin Ailey Dance Moves! (Nov., paper $24.95) by Lise Friedman, foreword by Judith Jamison, is a fitness and exercise book inspired by and endorsed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
New Soul Cooking (Nov., $30) by Tanya Holland. The restaurateur and Food Network personality offers a contemporary twist on soul food cuisine.
STREBOR BOOKS
(dist. by Simon & Schuster)
Passion Marks: A Novel (Oct., paper $13) by Lee A. Hayes. A gay black man grapples with the death of his twin brother and with the dream boyfriend who turns out to be the lover from hell.
Ballad of a Ghetto Poet: A Novel (Nov., paper $12) by A.J. White. A 17-year-old street kid's only escape is through crime and the redemptive power of his poetry.
STRIVERS ROW
Simon Says: A Novel of Intrigue, Betrayal... and Murder (Sept., paper $12.95) by Collen Dixon is a coming-of-age tale combined with gritty urban drama, political intrigue and a good dose of whodunit.
As We Lay: A Novel (Sept., paper $12.95) by Darlene Johnson takes a long, hard look at the price of having an affair with a married man, a price paid by everyone close to the relationship.
STYLUS PUBLISHING
Journey to the Ph.D.: How to Navigate the Process as African Americans (Sept.; $45, paper $18.95), edited by Anna L. Green and LeKita V. Scott. Twenty-four black scholars offer a guide to aspiring doctoral students to the formal process and to the personal, emotional and intellectual challenges they are likely to face.
THREE RIVERS PRESS
Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900— 2000 (Sept., paper $18) by Carla Black and the Before Columbus Foundation traces the evolution of multicultural America from the dawn of the 20th century to the present.
Unbelievable: The Life, Death and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.: A VIBE Book (Oct., paper $18.95) by Cheo Hodari Coker presents the larger-than-life story of the rapper, his rise to stardom, his friendship and feuds and his still-unsolved murder.
In Search of Tiger: A Journey Through Golf with Tiger Woods (Feb., paper $14) by Tom Callahan offers an insider look at Tiger's life and career through moments that unveil his drive and his talent.
TEXAS A&M UNIV. PRESS
The African Texans (Mar.; $29.95, paper $10.95) by Alwyn Barr looks at the challenges that face African Texans and the social and cultural contributions that they have made in the state.
UNIV. OF GEORGIA PRESS
Exit to Freedom (Sept., $24.95) by Calvin C. Johnson Jr. with Greg Hampikian chronicles Johnson's trial and 16 years in five Georgia prisons before he was freed after DNA testing ruled out the possibility of his guilt.
UNIV. OF NEBRASKA PRESS
From Africa: New Francophone Series (Mar.; $40, paper $15), edited by Adele King. Writings of 14 contemporary authors, with roots in sub-Saharan French Africa and Madagascar, shed light on the lingering effects of colonization while celebrating the complexity, exuberance and tenacity of African culture.
UNIV. OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones (Nov., $27.50), edited by William L. Andrews, gathers texts of the most influential slave narratives published in the 19th century.
Music and the Making of a New South (Mar.; $55, paper $19.95) by Gavin James Campbell focuses on the Metropolitan Opera, the Colored Music Festival and the Georgia Old Time Fiddlers' Convention to demonstrate how music addressed Atlantans' class anxieties and affirmed the segregationist impulse.
Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon (Mar., $29.95) by Aram Goudsouzian shows how Poitier became the screen symbol of the Civil Rights movement.
UNIV. OF WISCONSIN PRESS
Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories (Jan., $45) by Jean Humez is based on rare early publications, manuscript sources and stories Tubman told about her life.
UNIV. PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (Feb.; $25, paper $15) by Frank X. Walker tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark's slave York.
UNIV. PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
Conversations with Gwendolyn Brooks (Dec.; $46, paper $18), edited by Gloria Wade Gayles, spans three decades of candid, passionate interviews about the making of a poem and about the position of the poet in humane society.
VÉHICULE PRESS
(dist. by Independent Publishers Group, 800-888-4741)
It's All in the Music (Oct., paper $14.95) by Derek Ansell. A biography of John Coltrane by a veteran British jazz critic.
VIKING
Post-Soul Nation: The Explosive, Contradictory, Triumphant, and Tragic 1980s as Experienced by African Americans (Previously Known as Blacks and Before That Negroes) (Jan., $23.95) by Nelson George chronicles the African-American 1980s in all its excess, creativity and despair.
VILLARD
Ordinary Girl: A Memoir (Sept., $24.95) by Donna Summer with Marc Eliot charts the singer-songwriter's journey from singing in a Boston church to her unexpected reign as queen of disco, and the tragedy and spiritual rebirth that followed.
WALK WORTHY PRESS
Mercy, Mercy Me (Oct., $22.95) by Ronn Elmore tells the story of a psychotherapist struggling to reconcile the memory of his deceased wife and their time together with the new doors God seems to be opening for his future.
God's Word for the Unmarried Believer (Oct., $9.95) by the editors of Walk Worthy Press is a devotional to encourage those who are single.
WARNER ASPECT
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones (Jan., $25.95), edited by Sheree R. Thomas, introduces black science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction in 30 stories from the early 20th century through the most cutting-edge work of today.
WARNER BOOKS
The Salt Roads (Nov., $22.95) by Nalo Hopkinson tells of the epic journey of a spirit who, in a desperate bid to discover her own nature and identity, defies the limitations of time and place to inhabit the minds of living women throughout history.
America Behind the Color Line (Jan., $25.95) by Henry Louis Gates Jr. examines the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, tracing the journey of black people since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; companion volume to the PBS documentary. 6-city author tour.
WARNER FAITH
Beside Every Good Man (Nov., $19.95) by Serita Ann Jakes tells how to stand by your man in a godly way.
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
Brown Sugar 3: When Opposites Attract (Jan., paper $14), edited by Carol Taylor. The third volume in the erotic anthology delves into liaisons that are impulsive, forbidden or simply unexpected.
Long George Alley: A Novel (Feb., paper $13) by Richard Hall follows the lives of 22 fictional blacks, whites and idealistic young activists during two eventful days during the civil rights era.
WILEY
A Tale of Heritage: The New African American Cuisine (Sept., paper $19.95) by Joe Randall and Toni Tipton-Martin showcases the rich heritage of African-American cooking in an authentic collection of 300 recipes.
No More Clueless Sex: Ten Secrets to a Sex Life That Works for Both of You (Oct., $24.95) by Dr. Gail Elizabeth Wyatt and Lewis Wyatt, M.D. Sex therapists explore 10 common sexual patterns that sabotage love and offer a customized program to achieve greater intimacy and better relationships.
The Black Washingtonians (Mar., $40) by the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture brings the rich history of black Washington to life, taking readers from the early 18th century to the present, exploring African-American achievements in politics, business, education, religion, sports, entertainment and the arts.
