Random House New Releases - Biography & Autobiography - People of Color - Between June 19, 2012 and July 19, 2013.

A Scattered People by Gerald McFarland

2013-06-05T00:30:00-05:00

A Scattered People
Written by Gerald McFarland

The movement of millions of ordinary people westward across the American continent was one of the great folk migrations of all time, stretching over two centuries and thousands of hard-traveled miles. Using a canvas as broad as the country itself, Gerald McFarland turns this journey into a resonant personal experience by retelling the stories of five generations of a single, real family—who are, in fact, his own pioneer ancestors.

A Scattered People is a true-life saga that takes us from colonial settlements along the east coast to the California shore at the dawn of the twentieth century. Its cast is as rich as a historical novel’s: a born-again Christian farmer in eighteenth-century Connecticut; a Davy Crockettish rifleman in frontier Virginia; an infantryman at Antietam; a bold teen-age girl who forsakes Kansas for a New Mexico schoolhouse. They become our witnesses for the era’s key events: the American Revolution, the Indian wars, the Gold Rush, Bleeding Kansas and Harper’s Ferry, the Civil War, the Chicago Fire, booms and busts, political battles and technological upheavals. By fits and starts, by foot and oxen, covered wagon and rail, the succeeding generations make their way west, and we watch a family tree—and a nation—develop and grow.

What motivated men and women to take the risks of such moves, and what actually awaited them in each new home? By recreating in close focus that fundamental act of democratic aspiration—pulling up stakes and moving west—A Scattered People gives us an intimate and surprising new sense of the meaning of the American Dream.

Uncle Tom or New Negro? by Rebecca Carroll

2013-04-03T00:30:00-05:00

Uncle Tom or New Negro? African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and UP FROM SLAVERY 100 Years Later
Written by Rebecca Carroll

On the ninetieth anniversary of Booker T. Washington’s death comes a passionate, provocative dialogue on his complicated legacy, including the complete text of his classic autobiography, Up from Slavery.

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in 1858, yet roughly forty years later he had established the Tuskegee Institute. Befriended by a U.S. president and corporate titans, beloved and reviled by the black community, Washington was one of the most influential voices on the postslavery scene. But Washington’s message of gradual accommodation was accepted by some and rejected by others, and, almost a century after his death, he is still one of the most controversial and misunderstood characters in American history.

Uncle Tom or New Negro? does much more than provide yet another critical edition of Washington’s memoirs. Instead, Carroll has interviewed an outstanding array of African American luminaries including Julianne Malveaux, cultural critics Debra Dickerson and John McWhorter, and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and radio talk-show host Karen Hunter, among others. In a dazzling collection bursting with invigorating and varying perspectives, (e.g. What would Booker T. think of Sean Combs or Russell Simmons? Was Washington a “tragic buffoon” or “a giver of hope to those on the margins of the margins”?) this cutting-edge book allows you to reach your own conclusions about a controversial and perhaps ultimately enigmatic figure.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.

Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

Praise for Mom & Me & Mom

“Mom & Me & Mom is delivered with Angelou’s trademark good humor and fierce optimism. If any resentments linger between these lines, if lives are partially revealed without all the bitter details exposed, well, that is part of Angelou’s forgiving design. As an account of reconciliation, this little book is just revealing enough, and pretty irresistible.”—The Washington Post

“Moving . . . a remarkable portrait of two courageous souls.”—People

“[The] latest, and most potent, of her serial autobiographies . . . [a] tough-minded, tenderhearted addition to Angelou’s spectacular canon.”—Elle

“Mesmerizing . . . Angelou has a way with words that can still dazzle us, and with her mother as a subject, Angelou has a near-perfect muse and mystery woman.”—Essence

“True to her style, [Angelou’s] writing cuts to the chase with compression and simplicity, and there in the background is a calypso smoothness, flurries and showers of musicality between the moments of wickedness. . . . A tightly strung, finely tuned memoir about life with her mother.”—Kirkus Reviews

“In this loving recollection of a complicated relationship, Angelou for the first time details the mother-daughter journey to reconciliation and unwavering connection and support. . . . Angelou vividly portrays a spirited woman. . . . [A] remarkable and deeply revealing chronicle of love and healing.”—Booklist

“Written with her customary eloquence . . . follows in the episodic style of Angelou’s earlier volumes of autobiography, pulling the reader along effortlessly. The lessons and the love presented here will speak to those trying to make their way in the world.”—Publishers Weekly

“In straightforward style, Mom & Me & Mom dives deeply into Angelou’s complicated relationship with her mother. . . . At 84, Angelou shows few signs of slowing down.”—BookPage

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.

Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou
Read by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou
Read by Maya Angelou

King Peggy by Eleanor Herman

2013-02-12T00:30:00-05:00

King Peggy An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village
Written by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman

The charming real-life fairy tale of an American secretary who discovers she has been chosen king of an impoverished fishing village on the west coast of Africa.

King Peggy chronicles the astonishing journey of American secretary, Peggielene Bartels, who suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 people on Ghana's central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her crowning ceremony in beautiful Otuam, she discovers the dire reality: there's no running water, no doctor, no high school, and many of the village elders are stealing the town's funds. To make matters worse, her uncle (the late king) sits in a morgue awaiting a proper funeral in the royal palace, which is in ruins. Peggy's first two years as king of Otuam unfold in a way that is stranger than fiction. In the end, a deeply traditional African town is uplifted by the ambitions of its decidedly modern female king, and Peggy is herself transformed, from an ordinary secretary to the heart and hope of her community.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis

2013-01-29T00:30:00-05:00

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Written by Jeanne Theoharis

The definitive political biography of Rosa Parks examines her six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement

Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress who, with a single act, birthed the modern civil rights movement, Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks’s politics and years of activism. She shows readers how this civil rights movement radical sought—for more than a half a century—to expose and eradicate the American racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public services, and criminal justice.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis

2013-01-29T00:30:00-05:00

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Written by Jeanne Theoharis

The definitive political biography of Rosa Parks examines her six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart

2013-01-22T00:30:00-05:00

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
Written by Andrea Stuart

In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way: the farming of sugar cane, and the swiftly increasing demands for sugar worldwide, would not only lift George Ashby from abject poverty and shape the lives of his descendants, but it would also bind together ambitious white entrepreneurs and enslaved black workers in a strangling embrace. Stuart uses her own family story—from the seventeenth century through the present—as the pivot for this epic tale of migration, settlement, survival, slavery and the making of the Americas.

As it grew, the sugar trade enriched Europe as never before, financing the Industrial Revolution and fuelling the Enlightenment. And, as well, it became the basis of many economies in South America, played an important part in the evolution of the United States as a world power and transformed the Caribbean into an archipelago of riches. But this sweet and hugely profitable trade—“white gold,” as it was known—had profoundly less palatable consequences in its precipitation of the enslavement of Africans to work the fields on the islands and, ultimately, throughout the American continents. Interspersing the tectonic shifts of colonial history with her family’s experience, Stuart explores the interconnected themes of settlement, sugar and slavery with extraordinary subtlety and sensitivity. In examining how these forces shaped her own family—its genealogy, intimate relationships, circumstances of birth, varying hues of skin—she illuminates how her family, among millions of others like it, in turn transformed the society in which they lived, and how that interchange continues to this day. Shifting between personal and global history, Stuart gives us a deepened understanding of the connections between continents, between black and white, between men and women, between the free and the enslaved. It is a story brought to life with riveting and unparalleled immediacy, a story of fundamental importance to the making of our world.

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart

2013-01-22T00:30:00-05:00

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
Written by Andrea Stuart

Back in the Day by Darrin Keith Bastfield

2013-01-16T00:30:00-05:00

Back in the Day My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur
Written by Darrin Keith Bastfield

A star during his lifetime, a legend after a bullet killed him at the age of twenty-five, Tupac Shakur was the most influential rap musician of his day–and the most misunderstood. Far from being the insolent “gangsta” that the press put forth, Tupac was a committed and fearless visionary determined to make a difference not only on the music scene but in the black community at large. Darrin Bastfield grew up with Tupac in a rough Baltimore neighborhood, rapped with him, fought with him, and performed by his side. Now in this vivid, highly personal memoir featuring never-before-seen photos of the rap artist, Darrin shows the world what Tupac Shakur was really like as a teenager destined for greatness.

In tight, edgy prose, Darrin follows Tupac through the seven years of their friendship. In Roland Park Middle School in the mid-1980s, rap was a kind of underground movement, and the kids with real talent always found each other. Tupac–new in town, a skinny thirteen-year old with shabby clothes and lopsided hair–may have looked uncool, but it soon became clear that he had the gift. When Tupac teamed up with Mouse, king of the beatbox, they blew the school away in their performance as the Eastside Crew. It was the first in a series of increasingly electrifying performances.

When Tupac went to the Baltimore School for the Arts, then it really started to happen. A new group called Born Busy, unforgettable performances at the Beaux Arts Balls, an eye-opening backstage encounter with Salt-N-Pepa, their tight friendship with John, known among black kids as “the cool white boy,” a series of love affairs with adoring girls, the wild nights of the 1988 senior prom–Tupac and Darrin lived though it all together, and in this memoir Darrin makes it all come alive again.

From the start, Darrin knew Tupac was a marked man, singled out by his charismatic gift. So it came as no surprise that Tupac made it big when rap went mainstream. What stunned Darrin was the violent turn Tupac’s life took once he relocated to L.A.–and how swiftly that violence engulfed and destroyed him. Vibrant, gritty, alive with the tension and spontaneity of rap music, this memoir of Tupac’s teenage years is a haunting portrait of one of the most important artists of our day.

Bloods by Wallace Terry

2013-01-16T00:30:00-05:00

Bloods Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History
Written by Wallace Terry

"Simply the most powerful and moving book that has emerged on this topic." UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
The national bestseller that tells the truth of about Vietnam from the black soldiers' perspective. An oral history unlike any other, BLOODS features twenty black men who tell the story of how members of their race were sent off in disproportionate numbers and the special test of patriotism they faced. Told in voices no reader will soon forget, BLOODS is a must-read for anyone who wants to put the Vietnam experience in historical, cultural, and political perspective.
Cited by THE NEW YORK TIMES as One of the Notable Books of the Year
"Superb."
TIME

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by E. Lynn Harris

2012-11-28T00:30:00-05:00

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted A Memoir
Written by E. Lynn Harris

For almost a decade, beloved storyteller E. Lynn Harris has welcomed you into his family with his passionate, warm and trail-blazing novels. Now, he invites you into the most intimate world ever--his own.

Since his first book Invisible Life was published in the early 1990s, New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris has wowed, charmed and romanced millions of readers. As a master storyteller, E. Lynn Harris has created an intimate and glamorous world centered around his signature themes of love, friendship and family. People all over the world have fallen in love with his characters and laughed and cried with them.

Now, in his most daring act yet, E. Lynn Harris writes the memoir of his life–from his childhood in Arkansas as a closeted gay boy through his struggling days as a self-published author to his rise as a New York Times bestselling author. In What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, E. Lynn Harris shares an extraordinary life touched by loneliness and depression, but more important, he reveals the triumphant life of a small-town dreamer who was able through writing to make his dreams–and more–come true.

My Song by Michael Shnayerson

2012-11-13T00:30:00-05:00

My Song A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance
Written by Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson

An eloquently told personal account of an era of enormous cultural and political change, which reveals Harry Belafonte as not only one of America’s greatest entertainers, but also one of our most profoundly influential activists.

Harry Belafonte spent his childhood in both Harlem and Jamaica, where the toughness of the city and the resilient spirit of the Caribbean lifestyle instilled in him a tenacity to face the hurdles of life head-on and channel his anger into positive, life-affirming actions. He returned to New York City after serving in the Navy in World War II, and found his calling in the theater, before transitioning into a career as a singer and Hollywood leading man. During the 1960s civil rights movement, Belafonte became close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr., and used his celebrity as a platform for his activism in civil rights and countless other political and social causes. My Song tells the inspiring story of a startlingly original and powerful entertainer who has always engaged fiercely with the issues of his day.

Random House New Releases - Biography & Autobiography - People of Color - Between June 19, 2012 and July 19, 2013.

A Scattered People by Gerald McFarland

A Scattered People Written by Gerald McFarland

Uncle Tom or New Negro? by Rebecca Carroll

Uncle Tom or New Negro? African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and UP FROM SLAVERY 100 Years LaterWritten by Rebecca Carroll

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom Written by Maya Angelou Read by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom Written by Maya Angelou Read by Maya Angelou

King Peggy by Eleanor Herman

King Peggy An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African VillageWritten by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Written by Jeanne Theoharis

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Written by Jeanne Theoharis

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and EmpireWritten by Andrea Stuart

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and EmpireWritten by Andrea Stuart

Back in the Day by Darrin Keith Bastfield

Back in the Day My Life and Times with Tupac ShakurWritten by Darrin Keith Bastfield

Bloods by Wallace Terry

Bloods Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral HistoryWritten by Wallace Terry

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by E. Lynn Harris

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted A MemoirWritten by E. Lynn Harris

My Song by Michael Shnayerson

My Song A Memoir of Art, Race, and DefianceWritten by Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson

A Scattered People
Written by Gerald McFarland

Uncle Tom or New Negro? African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and UP FROM SLAVERY 100 Years Later
Written by Rebecca Carroll

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou
Read by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom
Written by Maya Angelou
Read by Maya Angelou

King Peggy An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village
Written by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Written by Jeanne Theoharis

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Written by Jeanne Theoharis

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
Written by Andrea Stuart

Sugar in the Blood A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
Written by Andrea Stuart

Back in the Day My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur
Written by Darrin Keith Bastfield

Bloods Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History
Written by Wallace Terry

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted A Memoir
Written by E. Lynn Harris

My Song A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance
Written by Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson