Much is made of the fact that Joe Bostic was a man of "firsts," as a member of the black community. He was the first black announcer on radio, first black sports announcer, first boxing announcer at Madison Square Garden, the first black to present a concert in Carnegie Hall, and many other impressive achievements.

Much is made of the fact that Joe Bostic was a man of "firsts," as a member of the black community. He was the first black announcer on radio, first black sports announcer, first boxing announcer at Madison Square Garden, the first black to present a concert in Carnegie Hall, and many other impressive achievements.

From video games to board games, CCGs to RPGs, find out how your favourite Dune game came to be. Through painstaking research and exclusive interviews with designers and creatives, this book tells you the untold stories behind the Dune games you love. You’ll get the the behind-the-scenes story of how the designers took Frank Herbert’s novel and created your favourite Dune games. • Future Pastimes’ Dune boardgame • Cryo Interactive’s Dune • Westwood Studios’ Dune II, Dune 2000, and Emperor: Battle for Dune • Last Unicorn Games’ Eye of the Storm CCG and Chronicles of the Imperium RPG • Widescreen Games’ Frank Herbert’s Dune • Cryo Networks’ Dune Generations • Soft Brigade’s Ornithopter Assault If you’re a fan of Dune, games, or Dune games, this book is for you. Get your copy today.

Collects interviews and commentary on blues and gospel music from the Mississippi Delta area, and discusses how race relations, connections to the sacred, and Southern life helped mold this style of music.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, folklorist William Ferris toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans as they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions that form the authentic roots of the blues. Now, Give My Poor Heart Ease puts front and center a searing selection of the artistically and emotionally rich voices from this invaluable documentary record. Illustrated with Ferris's photographs of the musicians and their communities and including a CD of original music and a DVD of original film, the book features more than twenty interviews relating frank, dramatic, and engaging narratives about black life and blues music in the heart of the American South. Here are the stories of artists who have long memories and speak eloquently about their lives, blues musicians who represent a wide range of musical traditions--from one-strand instruments, bottle-blowing, and banjo to spirituals, hymns, and prison work chants. Celebrities such as B. B. King and Willie Dixon, along with performers known best in their neighborhoods, express the full range of human and artistic experience--joyful and gritty, raw and painful. In an autobiographical introduction, Ferris reflects on how he fell in love with the vibrant musical culture that was all around him but was considered off limits to a white Mississippian during a troubled era. This magnificent volume illuminates blues music, the broader African American experience, and indeed the history and culture of America itself. The enhanced ebook edition includes: * Almost 2 hours of video clips and interviews scattered throughout the text * An hour of original music, also imbedded throughout the text * Concludes with the full DVD of original film and full CD of original music Watch the video below to see a demonstration of the the features of this enhanced ebook:

A story of resistance, power and politics as revealed through New York City’s complex history of police brutality The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was the catalyst for a national conversation about race, policing, and injustice. The subsequent killings of other black (often unarmed) citizens led to a surge of media coverage which in turn led to protests and clashes between the police and local residents that were reminiscent of the unrest of the 1960s. Fight the Power examines the explosive history of police brutality in New York City and the black community’s long struggle to resist it. Taylor brings this story to life by exploring the institutions and the people that waged campaigns to end the mistreatment of people of color at the hands of the police, including the black church, the black press, black communists and civil rights activists. Ranging from the 1940s to the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio, Taylor describes the significant strides made in curbing police power in New York City, describing the grassroots street campaigns as well as the accomplishments achieved in the political arena and in the city’s courtrooms. Taylor challenges the belief that police reform is born out of improved relations between communities and the authorities arguing that the only real solution is radically reducing the police domination of New York’s black citizens.

This book examines the formation of a black cultural front by looking at the works of poet Langston Hughes, novelist Chester Himes, and cartoonist Ollie Harrington. While none of these writers were card-carrying members of the Communist Party, they all participated in the Left during their careers. Interestingly, they all turned to creating popular culture in order to reach the black masses who were captivated by movies, radio, newspapers, and detective novels. There are chapters on Hughes's "Simple" stories, Himes's detective fiction, and Harrington's "Bootsie" cartoons. Collectively, the experience of these three figures contributes to the story of a "long" movement for African American freedom that flourished during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Yet this book also stresses the impact that McCarthyism had on dismantling the Black Left and how it affected each individual involved. Each was radicalized at a different moment and for different reasons.