Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work
In this personal, descriptive tome, Haitian-born writer Edwidge Danticat shares her thoughts on art, immigration and living in exile. The book, inspired by Albert Camus’ lecture “Create Dangerously,” is part essay and part memoir. Danticat shares her own life story and the lives of other artists who create various forms of art because of (or in spite of) the difficulties they faced in their homelands.
She introduces readers to a cousin who died of AIDS, a thriving Haitian radio journalist who is later killed and the Haitian writers she first read as a child at the Brooklyn Public Library. The celebrated author also parallels the natural disasters that have ravaged Haiti and the United States, reminding readers the two seemingly disparate nations are in fact, more alike than most believe.
Edwidge’s earlier books include Krik? Krak! The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breake and Brother, I’m Dying.
Final word: An emotional look at Haiti’s creative community living abroad.
Available Oct. 13. For more information visit press.princeton.edu.
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
According to educator Danielle McGuire, famed civil rights activist Rosa Parks has been completely mischaracterized in historical texts as a quiet, reserved southern woman. Her book, At the Dark End of the Street, looks at Parks’ life of activism before her legendary bus boycott on Dec. 1, 1955, and argues she was a fiery leader with a passion for women’s rights.
McGuire also expounds on the lives of seldom mentioned activists Recy Taylor and Joan Little while discussing women’s rights, interracial rape and sexual violence. The book also argues the Montgomery Bus Boycott and several other key moments in the Civil Rights Movement were as much about Black women demanding their personal dignity as they were about racial pride and equality.
Final word: Unique perspective on 1950s and ‘60s America with women’s rights at the forefront.
Available Sept. 7. For more information visit randomhouse.com.
Vaccines are Dangerous: A Warning to the Global Community
While vaccines are generally hailed by doctors and patients as being the sure way to battle and prevent illnesses, author Curtis Cost believes otherwise. His 1992 release, Vaccines are Dangerous: a Warning to the Black Community, challenged the effectiveness of vaccines and cited them as contributors to death and a variety of illnesses. With the recent release of Vaccines Are Dangerous: a Warning to the Global Community, (a revised second edition of his first release), Cost expounds on the topics discussed in the original and provides up-to-date information on topics dealing with H1N1, autism and HIV/AIDS.
“I wrote the second edition because there was a lot of additional information that people needed. For example, I realize that one of the reasons people blindly trust vaccines and other medications is because they have religious faith in the medical establishment and doctors,” Cost told the AFRO in an interview. “One of the chapters of my book is entitled, “Don’t Trust Doctors” and I try to help people understand that we to apply the same level of skepticism to doctors as we do for anything else.”
Final word: Eye-opening examination of vaccines’ pros and cons from an author passionate about the state of Black health.
Available now. For more information visit vaccinesaredangerous.com.