The momentum to sell an area of land in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, is building. Enter Reverend Amos Hobbs in 1921, along with his brothers, General George Washington Hobbs, and Robert Hobbs. They sought economic betterment for their families during the great migration from South to North. Anxious realtors and individual owners of the land sold the property in small lots to the "hungry-to-own-their-own-home" black southern newcomers. Thus began the settling of African-Americans on the peripheral of affluent Bridgewater Township. By its mere existence as the lone black community in Bridgewater and, not by its own volition, Hobbstown becomes the precursor to Bridgewater's racial conscience. The reader will hear the hearts and minds of Hobbstown natives who experience adversity in their quest for education within a height ranking school system from the 1920's through 1970's. It is as well the author's coming-of-age story, growing up in Hobbstown. A creative non-fiction work that reads like a novel.

Conscious Minds is a book of poetry that focuses on our deepest thoughts. It attempts to capture the consciousness of our feelings, the awareness of our minds as it relates to our individual and collective experiences.

Petrified of a family generational curse, tormented by a love-driven sin, Marloe Vain seeks revenge. Sworn to celibacy after her betrothed, Lawson James, breaks her heart, every suitor thereafter must pay. Marloe uses the breathtaking "power" of her beauty to garner posh jewels from love interests, abandoning them when they fall deeply for her, spiritually justifying her actions. A chance encounter with distinguished lawyer, Syril Barrett, brings her life to a grinding halt. Lawson returns to win her back, stirring painful memories and doubt of her worthiness. Needing a sign from God, she devises an unconventional test of Syril's sincerity. Family secrets abound, as Marloe's parents, the revered Deacon Bailey Vain and Rosette, are trapped in a deceitful and unforgiving web. Publicly, they appear the idyllic couple, but behind closed doors, their marriage is a 30-year "cold-war." For the Vain family, the journey to forgiveness, redemption, and unconditional love is a voyage of wretched lows and dazzling highs, culminating with unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.

A sensory narrative poem capturing the rhythms of the universe and secrets of the subconscious with stunning linguistic dexterity from the author of On the Road A spontaneous writing project in the form of an extended prose poem, this sonorous and spiritually playful book is one of Jack Kerouac’s most boldly experimental works. Collected from five notebooks dating from 1956 to 1959—a time in which Kerouac was immersed in Buddhist theory—Old Angel Midnight is comprised of sixty-seven short sections unified by an unwavering dedication to sounds, the subconscious, and verbal ingenuity. Friday Afternoon in the Universe, in all directions in & out you got your men women dogs children horses pones tics perts parts pans pools palls pails parturiences and petty Thieveries that turn into heavenly Buddha. Thus begins Kerouac’s Joycean language dance. From birdsong to dharmic verse, street jargon to French slang, the resonances of the universe come blaring in though the windows, unfurling their meaning as the mind lets go and listens.

These 13 stories by the author of The Invisible Man "approach the elegance of Chekhov" (Washington Post) and provide "early explorations of (Ellison's) lifelong fascination with the 'complex fate' and 'beautiful absurdity' of American identity" (John Callahan). First serial to The New Yorker. NPR sponsorship.

A compilation of Jessie Haven's "Hindsight" columns from the Somerset messenger-gazette.

Hailed as "powerful," "accomplished," and "spellbinding," Lalita Tademy's first novel Cane River was a New York Times bestseller and the 2001 Oprah Book Club Summer Selection. Now with her evocative, luminous style and painstaking research, she takes her family's story even further, back to a little-chronicled, deliberately-forgotten time...and the struggle of three extraordinary generations of African-American men to forge brutal injustice and shattered promise into a limitless future for their children... For the newly-freed black residents of Colfax, Louisiana, the beginning of Reconstruction promised them the right to vote, own property-and at last control their own lives. Tademy saw a chance to start a school for his children and neighbors. His friend Israel Smith was determined to start a community business and gain economic freedom. But in the space of a day, marauding whites would "take back" Colfax in one of the deadliest cases of racial violence in the South. In the bitter aftermath, Sam and Israel's fight to recover and build their dreams will draw on the best they and their families have to give-and the worst they couldn't have foreseen. Sam's hidden resilience will make him an unexpected leader, even as it puts his conscience and life on the line. Israel finds ironic success-and the bitterest of betrayals. And their greatest challenge will be to pass on to their sons and grandsons a proud heritage never forgotten-and the strength to meet the demands of the past and future in their own unique ways. An unforgettable achievement, a history brought to vibrant life through one of the most memorable families in fiction, Red River is about fathers and sons, husbands and wives-and the hopeful, heartbreaking choices we all must make to claim the legacy that is ours.