11. Shooting Stars
by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger
12. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think about Love Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment
by Steve Harvey
13. Daughters of Men: Portraits of African American Women and Their Fathers
Edited by Rachel Vassel
14.Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance
by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
15. The Love Ethic
by Kamau and Akilah Butler
16. Legends: Rare Moments and Inspiring Words
by the Editors at Smiley Books
17. Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African-Americans
by Roland Laird with Taneshia Nash Laird
18. Marriage 101: Building a Life Together by Faith
by Jewell R. Powell
19. The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama
by Gwen Ifill
20. The Hiptionary
by Mahmoud El-Kati
21. Men Don’t Heal, We Ho: A Book about the Emotional Instability of Men
by Steven James Dixon
22. 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business
by Earvin “Magic” Johnson
23. The Survival Bible: 16 Life Lessons for Young Black Men
by Jihad
24. Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from “Civil Rights” to “Sovereign Rights”
by Ezrah Aharone
25. Losing Control: Loving a Black Child with Bipolar Disorder
by Dr. Cassandra L. Joubert
Worst Black Books of 2009
1. Barack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth
by David Alan Grier
A transparent take-the-money-and-run rip-off of no substance ostensibly published to cash-in on the president’s popularity. The most out of touch offering since last year’s worst offering, Shelby Steele’s pre-election opus explaining why Obama couldn’t win.
2. More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City
by William Julius Wilson
Although this much-ballyhooed book arrived with a lot of fanfare trumpeting it as introducing a new “holistic approach to race,” quite frankly, I found it to be a rather blah rehash of old wine in new wineskins. Quite simply, you’re actually going to have to come up with truly fresh ideas to earn this critic’s stamp of approval as an innovative thinker, Harvard credentials notwithstanding.
Trust me, it’s hard to find a more vague assessment of the State of Black America than this one by out of touch, Professor William Julius Wilson: “We can confidently state… that regardless of the relative significance of structural and cultural factors in black family fragmentation, they interact in ways far too important for social scientists and policy makers to ignore.” Zzzz… Zzzz… Zzzz…
3. The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships
by Hill Harper
For some reason, actor Hill Harper decided to write a relationship advice book even though he’s never been married and freely admits to a checkered past in terms of dating. In this ill-conceived opus, moreover, he makes the tactical error of going public with his private life, relating how “This beautiful Black queen is my great blessing here on earth.” And in his concluding chapter, he waxes romantic about their solid future together, despite the odds against long-distance liaisons when one person’s on the East Coast while the other lives out in L.A.
Regrettably, the couple has reportedly already called it quits, which makes you wonder why Hill’s editors didn’t try to talk him out of mixing business and pleasure on the pages of his book, especially given his spotty track record. Sorry, it’s kind of hard to take any advice from a bachelor-turned-love guru who didn’t see this safe falling from the sky about to land on his head.
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