As an original member of The Miracles, the first act to sign with Berry Gordy's Tamla/Motown Records, Claudette Robinson was also the iconic label's very first female artist. In 1960, The Miracles' "Shop Around" became Tamla/Motown's first million-seller, prompting Mr. Gordy to bestow a special official title on Claudette: "The First Lady of Motown." Born Claudette Annette Rogers in New Orleans, Louisiana, she was bright and adventurous. At a very young age she embraced her grandmother's Christian values and service to her church when she sang in the choir. Claudette's family relocated to Detroit, Michigan where she excelled academically with honors and graduated from Commerce High School at the young age of 15. At age 16, she attended Wayne State University through her sophomore year of college, before joining the United States Marine Corps Reserves, where she was a member of the Rifle Team with accomplished sharpshooter status. Claudette always had a love for music, and in her free time, she sang with several female groups and performed in local talent shows in the Detroit area. While her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was away serving in the Army, his Matadors groupmate was William "Smokey" Robinson. Claudette was a member of their sister group, the Matadorettes. As fate would have it, they met Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1957. A friendship and partnership was created that has thrived for more than 60 years. Claudette and her groupmates William "Smokey" Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore, Ronald "Ronnie" White, and Robert "Bobby" Rogers became The Miracles. Their first Tamla single, "Got A Job," was released on February 19, 1958. During The Miracles' six-decade career, the group has sold more than 60 million records to date. Four Miracles hits -- "The Tracks of My Tears," "Ooo Baby Baby," "Shop Around," and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"-- have been selected by the National Recording Preservation Board for the United States Library of Congress' National Recording Registry, which honors and preserves culturally, historically and aesthetically significant American recordings. These same four Miracles songs have also been inducted into the GRAMMY(R) Hall of Fame, honoring recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. In 2019, commemorating Motown's 60th Anniversary celebration, Claudette will debut her first children's book entitled: CLAUDETTE'S MIRACULOUS MOTOWN ADVENTURE. The story is a wonderful journey of her adventures as a little girl in the magical kingdom of Motown. Claudette's goal is to inspire and educate children of their music history of the past, so that it will be retained and passed on to future generations. Claudette has enjoyed the wonders of motherhood as a mother of two, (Berry and Tamla), and grandmother of three, (Lyric, Thomas, and Alexis).

"Profound, funny ... wild and moving ... heartbreaking accounts of a lonely black childhood.... Brown sees racial oppression in national and global context; every political word she writes pounds home a lesson about commerce, money, racism, communism, you name it ... A glowing achievement.” —Los Angeles Times Elaine Brown assumed her role as the first and only female leader of the Black Panther Party with these words: “I have all the guns and all the money. I can withstand challenge from without and from within. Am I right, Comrade?” It was August 1974. From a small Oakland-based cell, the Panthers had grown to become a revolutionary national organization, mobilizing black communities and white supporters across the country—but relentlessly targeted by the police and the FBI, and increasingly riven by violence and strife within. How Brown came to a position of power over this paramilitary, male-dominated organization, and what she did with that power, is a riveting, unsparing account of self-discovery. Brown’s story begins with growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia and attending a predominantly white school, where she first sensed what it meant to be black, female, and poor in America. She describes her political awakening during the bohemian years of her adolescence, and her time as a foot soldier for the Panthers, who seemed to hold the promise of redemption. And she tells of her ascent into the upper echelons of Panther leadership: her tumultuous relationship with the charismatic Huey Newton, who would become her lover and her nemesis; her experience with the male power rituals that would sow the seeds of the party's demise; and the scars that she both suffered and inflicted in that era’s paradigm-shifting clashes of sex and power. Stunning, lyrical, and acute, this is the indelible testimony of a black woman’s battle to define herself.

In a small shop, Benji sees a beautiful but very expensive orange kite. Benji takes on all kind of jobs to earn the money to buy it. Then finally, the day comes when he can fly the kite. An inspiring picture book about ambition, perseverance, and kite-flying. Full color.

Legendary writer Trevanian brings readers his most personal novel yet: a funny, deeply felt, often touching coming-of-age novel set in 1930s America. Six-year-old Jean-Luc LaPointe, his little sister, and his spirited but vulnerable young mother have been abandoned—again—by his father, a charming con artist. With no money and nowhere else to go, the LaPointes create a fragile nest in a tenement building at 238 North Pearl Street in Albany, New York. For the next eight years, through the Great Depression and Second World War, they live in the heart of the Irish slum, surrounded by ward heelers, unemployment, and grinding poverty. Pearl Street is also home to a variety of “crazyladies”: Miss Cox, the feared and ridiculed teacher who ignites Jean-Luc’s imagination; Mrs. Kane, who runs a beauty parlor/fortune-telling salon in the back of her husband’s grocery store; Mrs. Meehan, the desperate, harried matriarch of a thuggish family across the street; lonely Mrs. McGivney, who spends every day tending to her catatonic husband, a veteran of the Great War; and Jean-Luc’s own unconventional, vivacious mother. Colorful though it is, Jean-Luc never stops dreaming of a way out of the slum, and his mother’s impossible expectations are both his driving force and his burden. As legendary writer Trevanian lovingly re-creates the neighborhood of his youth in this funny, deeply moving coming-of-age novel, he also paints a vivid portrait of a neighborhood, a city, a nation in turmoil, and the people waiting for a better life to begin. It’s a heartfelt and unforgettable look back at one child’s life in the 1930s and ’40s, a story that will be remembered long after the last page is turned.

This study of black images in American motion pictures, is re-issued for its 30th anniverary in its 4th edition. It includes the entire 20th century through black images in film, from the silent era to the unequalled rise of the new African American cinema and stars of today. From The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, and Carmen Jones to Shaft, Do the Right Thing, Waiting to Exhale, The Hurricane, and Bamboozled, Donald Bogle reveals the way the image of blacks in American cinema has changed - and also the shocking way in which it has often remained the same.

The Wu-Tang Manual is The RZA’s first written introduction to the philosophy and history of Hip-Hop’s original Dynasty, the Wu-Tang Clan. Written in a style that is at once personal and philosophical, The Wu-Tang Manual unravels the intricate web of personalities (and alter egos), warrior codes, numerological systems, and Eastern spiritual ethics that define the Wu-Tang dynasty. Packed with information that reflects the breadth and depth of the RZA’s — and rest of the Clan’s — intellectual interests and passions, The Wu-Tang Manual is divided into four books of nine chambers each, for a total of 36 chambers. All together, the book provides the breakdown of essential Wu-Tang components, from basic information about each of the nine core members of Wu-Tang Clan to deeper explorations of the key themes of the Wu-Tang universe, a dictionary-like Wu-Slang lexicon, and an entire section of Wu-Tang lyrics with densely annotated explanations of what they mean. For the hardcore Wu-Tang disciple and the recent initiate alike, The Wu-Tang Manual is the definitive guide to the essence of Wu, one of the most innovative hip-hop groups of all time. The RZA's most recent book, The Tao of Wu, is also available from Riverhead Books.

Sinners and saints without greasepaint make for memorable close-ups. Enjoy Dottie's confidential revelations about Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Joan Blondell, Paulette Goddard, Barbara Stanwyck, and others.