Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts how he came to discover the real John Henry, an African-American railroad worker who became a legend in the famous song.

The life of a 13-year-old Harlem black boy, on his way to becoming a confirmed heroin addict, is seen from his viewpoint and from that of several people around him.

The infamous deeds surrounding the town of Mena, Arkansas have become part of historical discussion since the Iran-Contra hearings. Living in a town of five thousand people with eight unsolved murders in a nine month period, defense lawyer Dolby Richards becomes unwittingly involved in one of the investigations. He is immediately made to fear for his life as dark forces begin to surround him, and he finally discovers a government plot that, even to this day, in its tendency towards pure evil, has yet to be adequately explained. The events beginning in Mena led to a street level impact on the culture of America, culminating in the deaths of thousands.

They tried to murder me over her. They tried to kill her over me. It destroyed our families. Lives and relationships were lost. They said we would never make it. Our backs were against the wall and against all odds. What level of pain would you be willing to go through to find that pure unconditional love? Would you risk your life to receive it? What sacrifices would you be willing to lay on the line? Meet T.J. Edwards; a young man born into a broken family full of tragedy, chaos, physical and sexual abuse. He had been groomed to believe that feelings and emotions were for the weak. That love was not real, nonexistent. He never thought he would find true unconditional love within the arms of a woman he was forbidden to cross those lines with. But from the moment the two stepped into each other’s paths, they knew that their love was something they wouldn’t allow any man or woman to penetrate. Their journey is one for the ages. It includes treachery, back-stabbing, murder, drama, exposed family secrets, and taboo situations that will leave the reader gasping for breath. In this well written tell all autobiography of love, T.J. Edwards lays it all on the line and proves that when a man truly loves a woman, he will be ready to do anything for the sake of her, even if it costs him his life.

ñA thief, a junkie IÍve been / committed every known sin,î Miguel Pinero sings in ñA Lower East Side Poem.î Part observer, part participant in the turbulent goings-on in his Nuyorican barrio, Miguel PiÐero blasted onto the literary scene and made waves in the artistic current with his dramatic interpretations of the world around him through experimental poetry, prose, and plays. Portrayed by actor Benjamin Bratt in the 2001 feature film ñPiÐero,î the poetÍs works are as rough and gritty as the New York City underworld he wrote about and loved. ñSo here I am, look at me / I stand proud as you can see / pleased to be from the Lower East / a street fighting man / a problem of this land / I am the Philosopher of the Criminal Mind / a dweller of prison time / a cancer of RockefellerÍs ghettocide / this concrete tomb is my home.î His depictions of pimp bars, drug addiction, petty crime, prison culture and outlaw life all drawn from first-hand experience astound the faint-hearted, as PiÐero poetizes an outlaw vernacular meant to shock proper, bourgeois culture. This long-awaited collection includes previously published and never-before-published poems; ten plays, including ñShort Eyes,î which was later made into a film and won the 1973-1974 New York Drama CriticsÍ Circle Award for Best American Play, ñThe Sun Always Shines for the Cool,î and ñEulogy for a Small Time Thief.î A co-founder of the Nuyorican PoetÍs Cafe, PiÐero died at the age of 41, leaving behind a compelling legacy of poetry and plays that reveal the harsh, impoverished lives of his urban Puerto Rican community.

This sizzling revue of the blues and blues infused songs that changed the way the world hears the human heartbeat took New York by storm. Ravishing songs trace the evolution of the blues from Africa to Mississippi to Memphis to Chicago.