Black Books for Fall - Bibliography

American Visions, August, 2000 by V.R. Peterson

Never Die Easy by Walter Payton with Don Yaeger (Villard, $24.95)--A posthumous autobiography from the running back known around the National Football League as "Sugar."

The Slave Ship Fredensborg by Leif Svalesen (Indiana University Press, $45)--A detailed account of a slave ship, its crew and its cargo.

Take Me to the River by Al Green with Davin Seay (Harper-Entertainment, $25)--Fame and tribulations, love and happiness--with 40 million records sold along the way.

October Releases

The Atlantic Sound by Caryl Phillips (Knopf, $25) --From the author of Crossing the River comes an engaging and thoughtful meditation on the Atlantic slave trade, its history and legacy.

Blackgammon by Heather Neff (One World/ Ballantine, $24)--A successful expatriate African-American artist journeys home in this debut novel by an East Michigan University English professor.

Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry (Doubleday, $27.50)--Cunningham is the photographer, Marberry is the author--and no, that's not your aunt in that photo.

The Fisher King by Paule Marshall (Scribner, $23)--Memory mixes with jazz in a fictional and stunning multigenerational saga of a Brooklyn family.

The Future Has a Past: Stories by J. California Cooper (Doubleday, $23.95)--Tales that tell it straight with a moral to grow on.

The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro by the National Council of Negro Women, Preface by Dorothy I. Height (Beacon Press, $20)--What's for dinner, then and now.

Homeless, Friendless and Penniless: The WPA Interviews With Former Slaves Living in Indiana edited by Ronald L. Baker (Indiana University Press, $29.95)--Chronicles of a time gone but not forgotten.

Honky by Dalton Conley (University of California Press, $22.50)--A white professor's memoir of growing up on New York City's ethnically mixed Lower East Side in the 1970s.

A Kid's Guide to African American History: More Than 70 Activities by Nancy I. Sanders (Chicago Review Press, $14.95)--African masks, riddles and games for the 6- to 11-year-old set.

Lift Every Voice and Sing edited by Julian Bond and Sondra Kathryn Wilson (Random House, $29.95)--An essay collection for the millenium that pays tribute to the history and legacy of the Negro National Anthem.

Maroon Arts: Cultural Vitality in the African Diaspora by Sally Price and Richard Price (Beacon Press, $25)--A vivid display of the art made by rebel Africans in 18th-century South America.

One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race by Scott L. Malcolmson (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, $30)--An interesting analysis of America's costly obsession with color.

Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor by Jerry Butler with Earl Smith (Indiana University Press, $24.95)--Butler's life, from rhythm and blues to Chicago politics, makes a memorable impression.

Souls of My Sisters: Black Women Break Their Silence, Tell Their Stories and Heal Their Spirit edited by Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy (Kensington, $15)--Celebrity publicist Terrie Williams, diva Patti LaBelle and others share inspirational tales of self-empowerment, struggle and community.