November 2019 | MahoganyBooks Adult Bestsellers
#1 – The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coastes
In his boldly imagined first novel, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, brings home the most intimate evil of enslavement: the cleaving and separation of families.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children–the violent and capricious separation of families–and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.
Spurred on by his improvised plantation family, Thena, his chosen mother, a woman of few words and many secrets, and Sophia, a young woman fighting her own war even as she and Hiram fall in love, he becomes determined to escape the only home he’s ever known. So begins an unexpected journey into the covert war on slavery that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North.
Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, all Hiram wants is to return to the Walker Plantation to free the family he left behind–but to do so, he must first master his magical gift and reconstruct the story of his greatest loss.
#2 – How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram Kendi
From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a bracingly original approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society–and in ourselves.
In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.
Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism–and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At it’s core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves.
#3 – Millionaire Moves by Dr. William F. Pickard
This book is a down-to-earth, relevant and riveting glimpse into the professional journey of one of the country’s most successful black businessmen, William F. Pickard, Ph.D.
Dr. Pickard details the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial evolution in an authentic, instructive, and sometimes humorous manner. Young entrepreneurs will be inspired by lessons learned from his bookie uncle, loyal colleagues and determined competitors. They’ll also take a little trip through time as he shares the stories of other hard-working men and women who made it – despite the odds. The valuable tips and proven tools provided by Millionaire Moves are essential for anyone striving to achieve the next level of success.
William F. Pickard, Ph.D., is Chairman of Global Automotive Alliance, Co-Managing Partner of MGM Grand Detroit Casino, CEO of Bearwood Management Company, and co-owner of five black-owned newspapers.
#4 – Small Doses by Amanda Seales
Insightful essays, poignant life advice, and pithy pearls of wisdom from one of comedy’s brightest rising stars
Comedian, writer, actress, and social media star Amanda Seales is a force of nature who has fearlessly and passionately charted her own course through life and career. Now, in her one-of-a-kind voice that blends academic intellectualism, Black American colloquialisms, and pop culture fanaticism, she’s bringing her life’s lessons and laughs to the page. This volume of essays, axioms, original illustrations, and photos provides Seales’s trademark “self-help from the hip” style of commentary, fueled by ideology formed from her own victories, struggles, research, mistakes, risks, and pay-offs. Unapologetic, fiercely funny, and searingly honest, Small Doses engages, empowers, and enlightens readers on how to find their truths while still finding the funny!
With an uncanny knack for taking serious topics (racism, rape culture, sexism, police brutality, etc.) and with humor, making them relatable and interesting, she combines intellectual wit, exuberant silliness and a pop culture obsession to create her unique style of smart funny content for the stage and screens.
#4 – The Osiris Papers by Raymond Winbush
The Osiris Papers: Reflections on the Life and Writings of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing is intended to be the first of many treatises written to examine the life, theories, and contributions of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. Some of these writings will be hagiographic. Some will be critical, but all will expand our understanding of one of the greatest African thinkers of the past 100 years.
“There are so many things to feel about this woman” so for this volume, we assembled a group of scholars, social activists, and entertainers to write on one of the Nine Areas of White Supremacy outlined by Neely Fuller in his monumental work The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept: A Compensatory Counter-Racist Code. You will learn how Mr. Fuller directly influenced the theories of Dr. Welsing. While Mr. Fuller asked “What is racism/white supremacy?,” Dr. Welsing asked “Why is there racism/white supremacy?” There is an important difference in these two queries and each will be answered in various ways throughout this volume by writers who 1) knew Dr. Welsing personally, 2) worked with her on various projects, or 3) are deeply familiar with her writings.
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