Black Familia is the tale of a Brooklyn hustler named Quan who struggles to bring the hoods and boroughs of New York City together; forming the city's first Black Commission, better known as Black Familia. However, Quan must overcome the elements of deception, greed, and mistrust. Bounty, who was indicted and convicted on Federal RICO charges at the age of 18, based Black Familia on his real life experiences, which ultimately landed him in Federal Prison.

Born Dying by Harold L. Turley II, Atria Books, ISBN: 1593091435, $13.

Nate Rodgers is a Washington D.C. drug kingpin and Lionel Taylor, a drug addicted ex-detective. Although they are polar opposites, the men cross paths and their lives are forever changed. Inspired by each other, they rise above their circumstance and grasp at redemption.

The Climax by Allison Hobbs, Atria Books, ISBN: 1593091842, $15.

After their lover, Marquise, supposedly dies, bitter enemies Terelle and Kai fall on bad times. Kai lands in jail for a murder she did not commit, while Terelle suffers a nervous breakdown under the pressure of raising Marquise’s child and clinging to the idea that he is still alive. Despite her lifetime sentence, Kai vows that Terelle will never have a moment’s peace, so long as she lives.

The Darkness by L.A. Banks, St. Martin’s Press, ISBN: 0312368747, $14.95.

The latest in L.A. Banks Vampire Huntress Series, The Darkness follows the Neteru team after the battle at Masada, as they return to San Diego under the misguided belief that 40,000 demons have been eradicated and Lilith’s spawn, killed. But they soon learn otherwise. Just as it had been prophesied at the dawn of the Armageddon, the anti-Christ has been born and will soon rise to power.

Don't Give Up, Don't Give In by Terry Coleman, ISBN: 9781604774658, $17.99.

Terry Coleman's life didn't start off auspiciously. Abandoned by his mother and raised by his grandma and aunts, he reached adulthood with no sense of direction or purpose. Marriage and fatherhood did not halt his descent into alcoholism and despair. But a chance invitation by a friend to attend church reawakened the religious leanings of Terry's childhood, and his resulting conversion turned his life in a new direction. He decided to use his powerful singing voice to set a world's record for singing hymns, publicizing the marathon event to draw attention to the plight of Denver's homeless

Fool, Stop Trippin’ by Tina Brooks McKinney, Atria Books, ISBN: 1593091850, $14.

When Tarcia finds out the man she’s been trying to snag already has a family, she becomes desperate to get back what she’s lost – even if it means tearing apart someone else’s family. She isn’t even beyond faking a pregnancy. But Tarcia’s  bad behavior may just land her in jail, or at the very least trippin’ over her mistakes.

Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas, Pocket Star Printing, ISBN: 141657123X, $7.99.

In the summer of 1964, University of Michigan sophomore Celeste Tyree leaves the comforts of her middle class life to travel to Mississippi and volunteer her efforts in Freedom Summer. She ends up helping voters register in the small town of Pineyville, a place best known for a notorious lynching that occurred only a few years earlier. As the long, hot summer unfolds, Celeste befriends several members of the community who watch her develop into a powerful, strong young woman. The Washington Post has called Freshwater Road the best work of fiction about the Civil Rights movement since Earnest J. Gaine's The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pitman.

Gather Together In My Name by Tracy Price-Thompson, Atria Books, ISBN: 1416533044, $15.

This is the heartbreaking story of Shyne Blackwood, a young African American man on death row for the brutal rape and murder of the 3-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend. The novel takes place over six hours, from 7 p.m. to midnight, on the day of Shyne’s execution. The story is told from the perspective of six people, including Shyne – an innocent man who inexplicably confessed to the heinous crime.

Mariah Jennings: The Battle by Rebecca Dunbar, Five Smooth Stones Publishing, ISBN: 0978667603, $16.99.

Mariah Jennings: The Battle is the story of 40 years in the life of a woman who was born on hell's hit list. Her story is played out in a battle for her heart between God and Satan. The battlegrounds are her personal life, her workplace – a Detroit consulting firm forced into corruption – and her overly zealous church.

Playing In The Dark by David Rivera, Jr. Atria Books, ISBN: 1593091818, $13.

When a suspected serial killer is suspected for a string of deaths, the investigation is assigned to Chemah Rivers, who quickly catches the person believed to be the murderer. But Chemah is also dealing with his own life issues – a custody battle with his ex-wife over his daughter and a blind love interest on the verge of regaining her sight. In the midst of all the drama, the real serial murderer begins to stalk Chemah, and the race for survival is on.

The Plunge by Fidelia Agwumezie, Publish America, ISBN: 1424171725, $17.95.

The true story of a Nigerian woman who overcomes tremendous hardship to come to America,

The Plunge is a story of strength, power, tradition, and the will to live. Living in a world of strict rules and traditions, Nma, a young female waiting for years in Nigeria for her husband to pay her way to America, is finally able to be reunited with her husband.

Purple Panties, edited by Zane, Atria Books. ISBN: 1593091656, $14.

Written by women from all over the world, Purple Panties presents short stories of lesbian erotica. The stories are written by the industry’s top erotica writers and they move beyond race, age, and all walks of life, including long-hidden passions, secret rendezvous with strangers, and May-December romances.

Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B by Cameron and Devine Lazerine, Grand Central Publishing, ISBN: 0446178209, $16.

From the mega-selling songs to the biggest stars to the most outrageous scandals, Rap-Up gives readers a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the revolutionary music that’s transforming pop culture. Complete with one-of-a-kind profiles on the hottest stars, this book is everything needed to get down with hip-hop and R&B.

Succulent: Chocolate II edited by Zane, Atria Books, ISBN: 1416548831, $22.

Zane, the Queen of Erotica, returns in Succulent with an eagerly awaited addition to her best-selling short story series. In this anthology of racy, hardcore passion, and riveting erotica, Zane includes three of her own original short stories, while the other writers bring their own style of sizzle and titillating sexual fantasy to their respective stories.

The Translation of Dr. Apelles by David Treuer, Vintage Bokos, ISBN: 0307386627, $14.95.

Dr. Apelles, a translator of ancient texts, has made an unsettling discovery: a manuscript that has languished for years, written in a language that only he speaks. Moving back and forth between the scholar and his text, from a lone man in a labyrinthine archive to a pair of beautiful young Indian lovers in un-spoiled and snowy woodland, Treuer weaves together two love stories. Enthralling and suspenseful, The Translation of Dr. Apelles dares to redefine the Native American novel.

Two Thin Dimes by Caleb Alexander, Atria Books, ISBN: 1593091279, $13.

R&B superstar Jamaica and the impoverished Tameer are two unlikely suitors linked together in a merry mix of plotting and gossip. When the two are brought together in what’s meant to be a temporary relationship, both are surprised when true feelings blossom.

The 8 Colors of Fitness by Suzanne Brue. Oakledge Press, 2008. ISBN: 0979562503, $20.99.

Myers-Brigg's personality test expert Suzanne Brue applies in her new book, The 8 Colors of Fitness, the test results to something new: fitness. After six years of research, Suzanne created a system that takes your Myers-Briggs personality type and ties it to a color, eight in all. The book matches your color-coded fitness personality to an exercise plan.

Book reviews by Kam Williams

A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited about Obama And Why He Can’t Win by Shelby Steele, Free Press, hardcover, 158 pages. ISBN: 978-1-4165-5917-7, $22.

“Louis Armstrong adapted a mask that came out of the black minstrel tradition… It communicated to white audiences that Louis Armstrong would entertain them but not presume to be their equal. The relentlessly beaming smile, the handkerchief dabbing away the sweat, the reflexive bowing, the exaggerated humility and graciousness – all this signaled that he would not breach the manners of segregation, the propriety that required him to be both cheerful and less than fully human…

What is exceptional about Barack Obama is the same thing that was exceptional about Louis Armstrong. Neither man discovered a new way for society to racially arrange itself. But both men found a way to capture the goodwill of whites in a way that facilitated their lives and careers.”

-- Excerpted from pages 61 and 127.

Only last year, I saw a movie in which characters seriously speculated about whether the United States would elect a robot or a Black president first. Regardless of the answer, the intended message was that the country was nowhere near ready to vote for an African-American.

Nevertheless, Barack Obama has managed to mount a competitive campaign for the Democratic nomination. And, should he succeed in defeating Hillary Clinton in that endeavor, the only question left will be whether he can win in November.

Already weighing-in with an answer is Professor Shelby Steele, public intellectual, Black conservative and author of such books as The Content of Our Character and White Guilt. Steele, like Obama, has a Black father and a white mother, so he presumes to understand Barack’s mindset better than most of us.

It is his contention that the Junior Senator cannot ascend to the presidency because he is a two-faced phony, since “he cannot be himself without hurting himself politically.” According to Steele, “With Blacks he is a protester carrying forward the care’s cause; with whites he is the ‘one people’ unifier, minimizing the importance of racial difference.”

Consequently, he’s a “bound man,” a hypocritical opportunist more interested in exploiting the status quo “to move himself ahead, not to advance a new configuration of race relations.” Certainly, such incendiary allegations would be easier to stomach if it weren’t coming from an African-American who’s also a darling of the right-wing Republican establishment.

That being said, the book does offer an intriguing theory about a dilemma faced by Blacks trying to assimilate into the mainstream. It claims that African-Americans seeking such success must adopt one of two masks: either that of “The Bargainer” or that of “The Challenger.”

Bargainers strike this deal with white society: “I will not use America’s horrible history of white racism against you, if you will promise not to use my race against me.” Examples Steele gives of Bargainers are Colin Powell and Oprah Winfrey.

Challengers, by contrast, leverage guilt to get power, indicting whites as inherently racist “until they do something to prove otherwise. The author says Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are your average Challengers.

The problem for Obama, and why he can never become President, supposedly, is that he behaves like a Bargainer, a latter-day Satchmo, in front of whites, but more like a challenger when trying to appease Blacks. In sum, Shelby Steele makes a persuasive case in A Bound Man, yet in my mind there remains the distinct possibility that there might be a third type of Black person, and maybe that’s precisely why so many folks of every hue find something about Barack so appealing.  

Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past by Bruce Bartlett, Palgrave Macmillan, hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-230-60062-1, $26.95.

 “It must be acknowledged that in the progress of nations, Negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, whenever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism…

Of all the dangers which our nation has yet encountered, none are equal to those which must result from the success of the effort now making to Africanize the half of our country.”

-- President Andrew Johnson, State of the Union Address (1867)

Although the Democratic Party has come to be associated with liberal politics and thus embraced by African-Americans over the past 40 years or so, this hasn’t always been the case. In fact, for most of its history, the party created by Thomas Jefferson has been uniformly racist and right-wing.

Despite being famous for coining the phrase, “All men are created equal,” Jefferson also asserted that Blacks “are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” The hypocritical third President of the United States went on to allege that “They secrete less by the kidneys, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odor... They require less sleep… They are more ardent after their female: but love seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation… In general… they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous.”

This bigoted Founding Father is credited with formulating “the most intense, extensive and extreme” anti-Black thought of the post-Revolutionary Era.” So, it should come as no surprise that in his will he chose to free only 5 of his 200+ slaves after his death. Subsequent Democratic presidents were just as intolerant. For instance, plantation owner Andrew Jackson saw slavery as “the necessary foundation” of American civilization, if whites were to maintain their quality of life economically.

When James K. Polk took over the White House in 1845, he fired the existing domestic and kitchen staff and replaced them with slaves. Politically, Polk declared in his 1848 Statue of the Union Address that Congress had no power to end slavery. This attitude was later only rubber-stamped by fellow Democrat James Buchanan who, in 1857, hailed the Dred Scott Decision with, “Had it been decided that either Congress or the territorial legislature possess the power to annul or impair the right to property in slaves, the evil would be intolerable.”

The very next year, during the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas argued, “I hold that a Negro is not and never ought to be a citizen of the United States. I hold that this government was made… by the white men, for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and should be administered by white men and none others. I do not believe that the Almighty made the Negro capable of self-government… In my opinion, the signers of the Declaration of Independence had no reference to whatever to the Negro when they declared all men to have been created equal… thus, my friends, I am in favor of preserving the government on the white basis as our fathers made it.”

Many forget how Republican Abraham Lincoln’s ill-advised choice of a Democrat as a running mate in 1864 gave John Wilkes Booth a good excuse to assassinate him For upon assuming the presidency, Andrew Johnson immediately began doing his best to ruin the Reconstruction effort by vetoing the Civil Rights Act and by repealing the Freedmen’s Bureau legislation guaranteeing each ex-slave 40 acres and a mule.

Worse, he allowed the Southern states to pass the repressive Jim Crow laws prohibiting Blacks from voting, holding office, marrying whites, and so forth. With African-Americans denied the vote, this signaled the demise of the Republican Party in the region, leading to the notion of the Solid South, meaning solidly Democratic. With no checks or balances, the next 100 years would be marked by widespread lynching, vigilantism and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

Speaking of the Klan, did you know that Harry Truman joined it in 1924? Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past by Bruce Bartlett is stocked with tons of such shocking tidbits. And while this illuminating tome might not make you shift your allegiance to the Republicans this election season, at the very least it ought to make you question the wisdom of remaining reflexively loyal to a party which has never officially apologized for its checkered past.

Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence by Keli Goff, Basic Civitas Books, paperback, 304 pages. ISBN: 978-0-465-00332-7, $16.95.

“Unlike their parents and grandparents, young Black Americans no longer view their political identity as black and white, so to speak. Today, the politics of race that were once the defining political issue for all Black voters have become one political issue among many for younger Blacks, causing them to reevaluate their political involvement, activism, and partisanship.

That Black Americans are Democrats has been one of the most reliable truisms of American politics of the past 40 years. But Black Americans born after the Civil Rights Movement are challenging the notion of a singular Black vote. Instead, they are proving that Black voters come in all shapes and sizes (politically speaking), and that the issues that matter to them are just as diverse as those that matter to white Americans from different ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic backgrounds, and different generations.”

-- Excerpted from the Introduction (pages 5-6)

For the third week in a row, I find myself reviewing a book questioning the wisdom of the African-American community’s longstanding allegiance to the Democratic Party. First, in A Bound Man, Shelby Steele explained why Obama won’t win the presidency. Then, in Wrong on Race, Bruce Bartlett delineated the Democrats’ long legacy of being anti-Black crusaders, from slavery through Reconstruction and Jim Crow segregation right up until the dawning of the new era of tolerance ushered in by the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s.

Now, Party Crashing, perhaps the most controversial of the three, postulates that the Hip-Hop Generation feels no particular loyalty either to the Democratic Party or to traditional Black issues. For instance, it points out that BET political commentator Jeff Johnson (“Rap City” and “The Jeff Johnson Chronicles”), endorsed Republican Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio’s 2006 gubernatorial race, even though, as Secretary of State, Blackwell had been blamed for the shady shenanigans which handed Ohio to Bush in the previous presidential election.

My primary problem with Party Crashing is not its unpersuasive appraisal of members of the Hip-Hop Generation as perhaps more conservative or at least independent of their parents’ mindset, but with the superficiality of the manner in which it makes its case. Touching on a series of hot-button topical issues, author Keli Goff arrives at a variety of patently preposterous claims, invariably backing up her bizarre conclusions with statistics from a survey she conducted under the auspices of Suffolk University.

For example, Goff, who holds a master’s degree from Columbia University, would have us believe that Kanye West was way out of line when presuming to speak on behalf of African-American youth when he said that George Bush doesn’t care about Black people. She relies on statistics in asserting that “The majority of younger Black Americans do not believe that race was the defining factor in the government’s inadequate to Hurricane Katrina.”

Oh really? I say you can prove anything you want with statistics, except the truth. The intellectually dishonest author is repeatedly infuriating by twisting number to fit her agenda in this fashion. Worse, she constantly teases the reader by dropping bombshells without addressing the subject further in depth.

Thus, Party Crashing is most annoying, not because of its transparent agenda, but because it simply has nothing of substance to share that you haven’t already heard uttered before in a 30-second sound bite by a right-wing political pundit on TV.

Look, I might disagree strongly with Shelby Steele, but at least he backed up his thesis with some intriguing arguments about Obama’s prospects. This superficial screed gives you nothing to sink your teeth into. Where’s the beef, Keli?

What we have here is an ill-timed Republican recruitment tool designed to entice Blacks over to the Grand Old Party. I suppose when the publishers green-lighted this book, they probably never considered the possibility that Obama would have so much momentum. For Goff simply sounds silly when she suggests that Black youth are eager to abandon the Democratic Party when this is the very constituency most rabidly backing Barack and likely to put him over the top.

Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success by Dr. Farrah Gray, Dutton, hardcover, 270 pages. ISBN: 978-0-525-95044-8, $24.95.

“News flash: There’s no such thing as automatic wealth – at least not in the real world. Of course some people will have you believe that wealth starts with a way of thinking and then moves effortlessly toward real wealth.

In this book I challenge you to move beyond the conversation and really grab at your accomplishments. I’m not only going to share the mindset you need to achieve all that you dream of, but also the specific strategies that accompany that state of mind...

What’s holding you back? The answer to that question is what this book is about… You might be oblivious to the fears and fallacies that are thwarting you financially, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically… I want to help you marshal out your own wealth potential, which relates to everything about you – not just your bank account.”

-- Excerpted from the Introduction (pages xxii-xxiii)

Thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey’s stamp of approval, The Secret has been enjoying a phenomenally run and is still sitting high on most best seller lists a couple of years after its 2006 release. That popular self-help book’s basic thesis is that positive thinking alone is enough to attract all the wealth, health and happiness you want. If only it were just that simple.

As a skeptic who questions the wisdom of relying on that philosophy, I’d guess a lot more is probably involved in achieving one’s dreams than a mere attitude readjustment. So, I suspect that there are many devotees with buyer’s remorse who find themselves frustrated that the money hasn’t simply come pouring in after they adopted the mindset dictated by The Secret.

I digress at the outset only to contrast the approach of The Secret with that of Get Real, Get Rich. I call this refreshing alternative The Un-Secret, since its strategies are grounded in a reality-based recipe for success which is a combination of not only attitude but also skills and commitment.

Written by “Reallionaire” Dr. Farrah Gray, this relatively-feasible how-to guide is designed to empower individuals to maximize their potential, whatever that may be. However, in Dr. Gray’s opinion, this involves much more than chanting positive affirmations. So expect to do some serious work along the path to fulfilling your goals.

You might be wondering, Why should I listen to this author as opposed to the countless others offering advice about how to get rich? Perhaps because he speaks from experience. After all, he was raised in the ghetto on the South Side of Chicago by a single-mom, yet he still overcame the odds and made his first million dollars by the age of 14.

And as fascinating as this admirable wunderkind’s personal story is, it’s the practical ideas shared in Get Real, Get Rich which make the book worthwhile. For Farrah, now 23, exhibits wisdom beyond his years, and an infectious eagerness to inspire others to outdo him in terms of achievement.

For example, in a chapter entitled, The Money Lie, he emphasizes the importance of living below your means, in order to avoid going broke. While that sage insight might seem to some like common sense, taking the notion to heart is likely to make all the difference in your life.

What can I say about this exceptional role model except “I’m a believer!”