In this nuanced and illuminating examination of Elvis Presley's complicated legacy, music journalist Preston Lauterbach spotlights four trailblazing Black musicians whose artistry and style inspired a young Presley, but whom he rarely (if ever) credited. Try this next: Why Willie Mae Thornton Mattersby Lynnée Denise.
In his thrilling latest, Matthew Pearl (The Taking of Jemima Boone) chronicles the shipwreck and rescue of Irish ship captain Frederick Walker and his family and crew, who spent more than a year marooned on Midway Atoll and whose story inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write his 1892 novel The Wrecker. For fans of:The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann.
Poet Kwame Alexander (Why Fathers Cry at Night) edited this joyful anthology, featuring works from more than 100 contemporary Black poets, that's being hailed as "essential" (Publishers Weekly) and "the most important poetry collection of this decade" (Library Journal). Further reading:African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song edited by Kevin Young.
Santi Elijah Holley's richly detailed history of the Shakur family (including Black Panther Party member Afeni Shakur, her son, rapper Tupac Shakur, and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, currently exiled in Cuba) is "essential reading" (Booklist) that examines how their activism and influence shaped the Black liberation movement. Try this next: The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel Historyby David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson.
Named a 2023 Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor, historian Chad L. Williams' thoughtful account chronicles sociologist and Pan-Africanist activist W. E. B. Du Bois' failed, decades-long attempts to craft a narrative of Black American soldiers' experiences during World War I. Further reading: We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity edited by Kinshasha Holman Conwill.
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