Richard Wright Works. - book reviews

Ebony, Dec, 1991

THE publication of Richard Wright Works (The Library of America, $70), a two-volume edition of the author's unexpurgated writings, is one of the most anxiously awaited literary events of the season.

Here for the first time are fully restored versions of many of Wright's most famous works-including Native Son and Black Boy-which were divested of their strong racial, political and sexual content by the author's publisher, Harper and Brothers, and the Book-of-theMonth Club.

Reconstructed after an exhaustive examination of manuscripts and other printed sources, the restored texts differ radically in tone and meaning from all previously published editions of Wright and present the author as he himself intended to be read.

The two volumes are organized chronologically. "Early Works" includes the landmark novel Native Son and two other early Wright books, Lawd Today! and Uncle Tom's Children, as well as the essays "How Bigger Was Born" and "The Ethics of Living jim C row. " " Later Works" includes the autobiographical Black Boy with its restored second half, originally published under the title American Hunger, and the political novel The Outsider

For inveterate Richard Wright readers as well as the newly introduced, Richard Might Works sheds new light on the pivotal author and his vision of the world.

A View from Above Villard Books, $20), the autobiography of former NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, includes reminiscences from his formidable 13-year career and insights from his high-profile, sometimes controversial life as a member of the international jet set, by Wilt Chamberlain.

Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking (William Morrow and Co., $23), a complete guide to the history, principles and food of Kwanzaa, includes stories from Black folklore and more than 200 recipes from Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Black America, by Eric V. Coppage.

My Kwanzaa Book (Sea Island Information Group, $5.95), a workbook and coloring book that introduces children and other family members to the tradition of Kwanzaa, by Carolyn M. Cockfield.

Biblical Ancestry Voyage: Revealing Facts of Significant Black Characters, (Aaron Press, $19.95), an examination of the presence of significant Black people in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible b Rev. William LaRue Dillard.

Before Their Time: Four Generations of Black Teenage Mothers Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $19.95), an oral history that traces the lives of four generations of women in one family and the routes they take to too early childbearing, by Joelle Sander.

Heritages From Our Founding Fathers (Vantage Press, $11.95), a memoir that recounts the growth and development of Basin, Miss., a small town founded by former slaves that is rich in history and tradition, by Charles L. Grant Sr.

Color to Color: The Black Woman's Guide to the Rainbow for Fashion & Beauty (Simon & Schuster, $13), a guide to clothing, makeup and hairstyling tailored for the unique wants and needs of Black women, by Jean Patton math Jacqueline Cantey

1959 (Grove Weidenfield, $18.95), a novel, drawn on history, that examines the integration of the American South through the eyes of 12-year-old Willie Tarrant, by Thulani Davis.

In Living Color: The Authorized Companion to the Fox TV Series (Warner Books, $9.95), an illustrated, behind-the-scenes look at one of television's hottest comedy-variety shows The volume includes still photographs, script excerpts and profiles of the cast, guest stars and the notorious Fly Girls, by Nelson George.

Jessic and Jesus and Cousin Claire (Peachtree Publishers, $16.95), a pair of comic novellas that focus on two women with very different means of coping math the male-dominated world of the rural South, by Raymond Andrews.

Afrique II (Ubu Repertory Theater Productions, $15.95), a collection of six plays by five playwrights from Frenchspeaking Africa, includes preface by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The Power To Create! (Pennington Publishing, $12.95), a guide that offers the author's strategies for personal and professional success, by Phillip Aaron.

I Shall Not Be Moved (Bantam Books, $8.50), the paperback issue of the newest collection of poems by author/ac tress/dancer/director Maya Angelou.

Raw Head, Bloody Bones: AfricanAmerican Tales of the Supernatural (Charles Scribners's Sons, $12.95), a collection of 15 spine-tingling tales of the supernatural gathered by Zora Neal Hurston and other folklorists, selected and edited by Mary E. Lyons.

Blacks and Whites In Sao Paulo, Brazil: 1888-1988 (University of Wisconsin Press, $47.50), a study of racial inequality and the lingering effects of slavery on modern-day Brazil, particularly the rapidly developing Sao Paulo region, by George Reid Andrews.

Girls At War (And Other Stories) (Anchor Books, $8), a collection of short stories that examines life in Nigeria and traces 20 years in the life of the au acclaimed writer Chinua Achebe.

A NEW and exciting videocassette series the Ebony/Jet Guide to Black Excellence, challenges the widespread and growing view that Black youths can't and won't learn.