Aristocrats of Color (University of Arkansas Press, $24 paper) is a first-rate study of the black upper class during the years 1880-1920. Willard B. Gatewood, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History emeritus at the University of Arkansas, examines this "elite" group African Americans by looking at the genealogies and occupations of specific families and individuals throughout the United States. The author fully explores the distinctive background, prestige, attitudes, behavior, power, and culture of this economically privileged group.

Nicki Butler Mitchell's The New Color of Success (Prima, $24.95) is a winning collection of interviews. Mitchell talks with 20 black millionaires who are as talented as they are resourceful. They include Robin Pegrave, whose $4 million flight-training school and helicopter tour service began with a $300 investment; Deborah M. Sawyer, whose first investment of $40,000 turned Environment Design International into a $6 million business; and Neil Jones, who started his $20 million systems-integration company with just $300. All of these entrepreneurs say that you need to have a passion for what you do--for there will no doubt be long hours and hard work. Todd B. Alexander, an Atlanta wine distributor, completely immersed himself into Italian language, culture, and wines in order to create his business, Vendemmia (which is Italian for "harvest"). And screenwriter Takashi Bufford, whose Los Angeles company was formed to "specifically to do business with studios and other entities who contract writers" notes, "the point is to improve storytelling and writing skills, and the only way to accomplish that is to write. Real writers...do it because they love it." Don't miss this excellent book!

Engaging and superbly researched, Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airman (Pelican Publishing, $23) provides us with important details about the efforts of early African American aviators and their struggles with the military's segregation policies. Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly center their work around the Tuskegee Airmen, who served in the training program at Tuskegee Army Air Field from 1941 to 1946. The book is primarily comprised of fascinating interviews and a wealth of historical photographs (there are 101 illustrations). Homan and Reilly take care not to focus simply on the pilots' stories, but to capture the experiences of the nurses, the mechanics, the staff officers, and even the band members. The Tuskegee aviators and the victories of all-black squadrons in Europe ably prove that these airmen possessed nothing less than "the right stuff." Note: Homan and Reilly designed the acclaimed "Tuskegee Airmen" traveling museum exhibition, as well as the "African Americans in Aviation" permanent exhibit at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum in Savannah, GA.


Originally published in 1958 by the National Council of Negro Women, The Historical Cookbook fo the American Negro (Beacon Press, $20.00) is a warm and evocative collection of rare recipes, facts, bios, documents, and anecdotes, all celebrating American black heritage. The book has 132 recipes, and many of them are as simple as they are mouthwatering. This is especially true for, say, the Philadelphia Vanilla Ice Cream, Eggplant in Casserole, Buttermilk Biscuits (there are no kneading instructions or cooking times), Brussel Sprouts with Paprika Sour Cream, and--of course--Pecan Pie. The National Council of Negro Women is a sixty-five year old volunteer organization committed to improving the lives of African American women and their families. It has over 45,000 members in 37 states.

In the penetrating and compassionate Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Harvard University Press, $29.95), historian David Blight delves into the conflicting memories of North and South, Black and White, veteran and politician, men and women who suffered in the aftermath of the bloodiest and most costly of wars. Blight examines a wide range fo areas, including monuments, images, songs, memoir, literature, popular press, veterans' reunions, and official pronouncements. In essence, the author ably argues that we must recover and honor the emancipationist legacy of the War if we are to truly unite all Americans in an equal and powerful Union.
 

African Style: Down to the Details (Clarkson Potter, $32.50) is a lavish, detailed, and instructive volume. Whether you want to redo your entire living space or simply add artistic accessories, author Sharne Algotsson can help you transform your visions of an African interior into a vivid reality. The first four chapters of the book--Color and Patterns, Accessories, Furniture, and Fabrics--form the core of Algottson's title. Here, she investigates the key elements of the home that can express a personal African style. In the final chapter (The Mix), the author shows you not only how to bring all the elements together into a colorful and comfortable African-inspired home, but she details how to blend African elements with other design styles that you may already have in your hous. The book is loaded with 220 bright, full-color pictures (by George Ross, one of New York's finest lifestyle photographers). And there is also an extensive resources section, with both mailing and Web addresses.

Take A Lesson (Wiley, $24.95) is a captivating work. Caroline V. Clarke, Editor-at-Large for Black Enterprise magazine, has collected her interviews of twenty-seven earnest, accomplished, and contemporary African Americans. Time Warner president Richard Parson shows that you don't have to have a type-A personality to make it to the top; ABC's sportscaster Robin Roberts talks about how making the right career decisions--even when you will be making less money--is just as important as drive; and American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault speaks about how "at any given moment, no matter who you are, you must be prepared to give your best." CBS's Byrant Gumbel reveals some particularly candid and engaging facts about himself and his work ethic. For instance, when he was a sportscaster, he was so well respected because "I knew sports wells. I read about it like a demon and I watched it like a demon...I lived and breathed it...So talking about sports...on the air in a calm, knowledgeable, and competent fashion was something that, to me, didn't seem like work." When Gumbel began work on the Today show, he was just as relaxed and confident because his "strategy was to simply try to out-work everybody, and try my best to ignore outside critics." Other interviewees include Spike Lee, Ruth J. Simmons (president of Smith College), Marcia Ann Gillespie (Editor in Chief, Ms. Magazine), and Johnnie Cochran.

The Art and History of Black Memorabilia (Clarkson Potter, $34.99) is a rich and thoroughly-informative volume. Larry Vincent Buster covers collectibles that span five centuries of African American life. Beginning with the slave trade in the 1500s and continuing to the present day, Buster examines dolls, toys, posters, advertisements, and more. While some of the early images of African Americans reinforced racial stereotypes, Buster notes that items featuring these qualities bring the highest prices from today's collectors. Still, the author shows that not all highly-valued works utilized negative imagery. Such items as folk art, political buttons during the Civil Rights movement, and historical photographs of important and well-known figures in black history tend to celebrate the black experience in American life. Buster offers expert advice on buying, displaying, and preserving memorabilia. He also does a fine job of discussing the growing number of collectors and black celebrities (Bill Cosby, Whoopie Goldberg, and Spike Lee) who have brought attention and prestige to collecting black memorabilia. The book is fully-illustrated with 200 bright, crisp, full-color pictures.

Souls Grown Deep Volume 1 (Tinwood Books, $99) is a mammoth and impassioned celebration of African American folk artists of the south. In this first of a planned multi-volume study, we are presented with an admirable array of works from 40 southern artists. The media range from painting and sculpture to art installations and works on paper. The volume also gives historical examples from earlier eras. Not every creation here is a masterwork, of course. But most are significant, heartfelt, and engaging. Over 35 contributing essayists (art historians, folklorists, museum curators, etc.) provide critical, biographical, and thematic overviews that enormously aid in our understanding of this important visual tradition. Especially fine are the numerous first-person autobiographical statements that are given throughout the volume. This 550-plus page work has 801 illustrations, 756 of which are in full and glorious color. To contact the Atlanta (GA) publisher, call toll-free at: 887-370-3337. The email address is: tinwood@mindspring.com. Their Web address is: www.soulsgrowndeep.com.

              
Hidden In Plain View (Doubleday, $27.50) is a truly inspiring work.
in 1993, author Jacquelin Tobin visited the Old Market Building in Charleston (SC), where local craftspersons sell their wares. Near a pile of beautiful quilts, Tobin met African American quilter, Ozella Williams, who began to tell Tobin a fascinating story about how slaves made coded quilts and used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. Tobin enlisted Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history professor, to help provide the historical context behind Williams's engrossing story.

    Thoroughly revised and expanded, the 8th edition of From Slavery to Freedom (Knopf, $49.95) remains a classic and illuminating production.
In the original 1947 publication, John Hope Franklin, the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus at Duke University, vividly details the journey of a people from their origins in the civilizations of Africa, through the years of slavery in the New World, to the successful struggle for freedom and its aftermath in the West Indies, Latin America, and the United States. In this new edition (written with Alfred A. Moss, Jr.), Franklin includes recent scholarship, expanded coverage of Africa, current assessment of African Americans, and more charts, maps, and illustrations.

    African American Accents (Krause, $19.95) is a colorful and instructive trade paperback.
    Lisa Shepard gives us a step-by-step guide for more than 40 projects involving napkins, pillows, photo frames, and place mats that are either sewn or use fusible products. Particularly fine are Shepard's pea-green and gold cocktail napkins, as well as her rich paisley velvet drawstring pouch. These creations are refreshingly different from the bland browns and yellows that one sees on many African American crafts and fabrics. There is a helpful Supplies & Resource section in the back of the book.

    Art lovers will surely want to purchase Collecting African American Art (Crown, $50) .
    In this resplendent and informative volume, Halima Taha presents over two hundred four-color illustrations from everyone from Jacob Lawrence and William H. Johnson to Mary Lovelace O'Neal and Robert Scott Duncanson (whose romantic American landscapes "exemplify the beauty and poetry of both subject and style"). Regrettably, there are no paintings by the immensely-talented Jonathan Green, who grew up in Beaufort County South Carolina. Taha gives practical guidelines for becoming an informed collector, including how to work with art dealers.

    Autobiography of a People (Doubleday, $27.50) is a stirring work.
    Edited by Herb Boyd (with a marvelous introduction by Gordon Parks), this is the first anthology to effectively trace the history of the African American experience--from the Middle Passage and the Emancipation to the Civil War and the Million Man March--in the words of those who were there. The book has a variety of acclaimed writers, intellectuals, and spiritual leaders. They include Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, and General Colin Powell.

    Love Across the Color Lines (Hill & Wang, $35) is a poignant and revealing volume.
    Maria Diedrich tells how Ottilie Assing, an intrepid German journalist, traveled to Rochester, New York, in 1848, to interview Frederick Douglass for a German newspaper. This meeting transformed both their lives. They remained intimate friends for over 25 years. She even translated his classic autobiography into German. Diedrich ably captures Assing and Douglass's shared cultural and intellectual interests, as well as the rigors of nineteenth-century racial, class, and national boundaries.