"It's where Walt Whitman meets Michael Jackson. It's where Emily Dickinson meets Mary J. Blige. It's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, the lyrical, smart, hilarious, and searingly honest new show that has become a true phenomenon on Broadway, earning critical raves and drawing huge cheers nightly. Def Poetry Jam is an experience that's not to be missed: Nine gifted, young poets speaking from the heart about everything from love to sex, politics, and Krispy Kreme donuts. If Langston Hughes or Virginia Woolf were alive today, this is what they'd sound like. The roster includes both well-established and up-and-coming poets -- including Suheir Hammad, author of Born Palestinian, Born Black; Black Ice, a.k.a. Lamar Manson, the first spoken-word artist to be signed to Def Jam Records; Beau Sia, author of A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, and a two-time National Poetry Slam champion; and Poetri, one of the founders of Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles. Essential for every fan of contemporary poetry, Russell Simmons Def Jam on Broadway ... and More is a cutting-edge and constantly surprising volume that takes a fresh, exuberant, sometimes insightful, sometimes comedic look at who we are and where we are today"--Publisher's description.

In October 2009 Lemon Andersen's County of Kings, produced by Spike Lee and the Culture Project, premiered at the Public Theater garnering glowing reviews from such prestigious publications as the New York Times, New Yorker, Variety, Associated Press, and the Village Voice. Within just a few short weeks of its limited run, the compelling staged-memoir is now available in print. County of Kings is a jarring and poignant coming-of-age memoir told in a unique voice that seamlessly flows from compelling prose to hard-edged poetry without skipping a beat. The poetic and often times gritty narrative paints a vivid portrait of Lemon's difficult, yet at times humorous experiences growing up in New York City. Published independently by County of Kings Publishing, which also published Lemon's first book Ready Made Real, this memoir promises to be the Down These Mean Streets for the hip-hop generation. This is the kind of memoir that redefines the genre while telling a true tale of an all-American community from the 1980's to the present. - Publisher.

"Jill Dolan is the theatre's most astute critic, and this new book is perhaps her most important. Utopia in Performance argues with eloquence and insight how theatre makes a difference, and in the process demonstrates that scholarship matters, too. It is a book that readers will cherish and hold close as a personal favorite, and that scholars will cite for years to come." ---David Román, University of Southern California What is it about performance that draws people to sit and listen attentively in a theater, hoping to be moved and provoked, challenged and comforted? In Utopia in Performance, Jill Dolan traces the sense of visceral, emotional, and social connection that we experience at such times, connections that allow us to feel for a moment not what a better world might look like, but what it might feel like, and how that hopeful utopic sentiment might become motivation for social change. She traces these "utopian performatives" in a range of performances, including the solo performances of feminist artists Holly Hughes, Deb Margolin, and Peggy Shaw; multicharacter solo performances by Lily Tomlin, Danny Hoch, and Anna Deavere Smith; the slam poetry event Def Poetry Jam; The Laramie Project; Blanket, a performance by postmodern choreographer Ann Carlson; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; and Deborah Warner's production of Medea starring Fiona Shaw. While the book richly captures moments of "feeling utopia" found within specific performances, it also celebrates the broad potential that performance has to provide a forum for being human together; for feeling love, hope, and commonality in particular and historical (rather than universal and transcendent) ways.

A popular entrepreneur explains that true happiness comes not from wealth but from inner contentment and shares personal stories of his own rise to success and how he never failed to remain grounded during the process.

This four-volume encyclopedia contains compelling and comprehensive information on African American popular culture that will be valuable to high school students and undergraduates, college instructors, researchers, and general readers. From the Apollo Theater to the Harlem Renaissance, from barber shop and beauty shop culture to African American holidays, family reunions, and festivals, and from the days of black baseball to the era of a black president, the culture of African Americans is truly unique and diverse. This diversity is the result of intricate customs forged in tightly woven communities—not only in the United States, but in many cases also stemming from the traditions of another continent. Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture presents information in a traditional A–Z organization, capturing the essence of the customs of African Americans and presenting this rich cultural heritage through the lens of popular culture. Each entry includes historical and current information to provide a meaningful background for the topic and the perspective to appreciate its significance in a modern context. This encyclopedia is a valuable research tool that provides easy access to a wealth of information on the African American experience.

"Finally, a clear, accurate, and thoroughly researched examination of slam poetry, a movement begun in 1984 by a mixed bag of nobody poets in Chicago. At conception, slam poetry espoused universal humanistic ideals and a broad spectrum of participants, and especially welcome is the book's analysis of how commercial marketing forces succeeded in narrowing public perception of slam to the factionalized politics of race and identity. The author's knowledge of American slam at the national level is solid and more authentic than many of the slammers who claim to be." ---Marc Kelly Smith, founder/creator of the International Poetry Slam movement The cultural phenomenon known as slam poetry was born some twenty years ago in white working-class Chicago barrooms. Since then, the raucous competitions have spread internationally, launching a number of annual tournaments, inspiring a generation of young poets, and spawning a commercial empire in which poetry and hip-hop merge. The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry is the first critical book to take an in-depth look at slam, shedding light on the relationships that slam poets build with their audiences through race and identity performance and revealing how poets come to celebrate (and at times exploit) the politics of difference in American culture. With a special focus on African American poets, Susan B. A. Somers-Willett explores the pros and cons of identity representation in the commercial arena of spoken word poetry and, in doing so, situates slam within a history of verse performance, from blackface minstrelsy to Def Poetry. What's revealed is a race-based dynamic of authenticity lying at the heart of American culture. Rather than being mere reflections of culture, Somers-Willett argues, slams are culture---sites where identities and political values get publicly refigured and exchanged between poets and audiences. Susan B. A. Somers-Willett is a decade-long veteran of slam and holds a PhD in American Literature and an MA in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Texas and is the author of two books of poetry, Quiver and Roam. Visit the author's website at: http://www.susansw.com/. Photo by Jennifer Lacy.

No one knew Staceyann's mother was pregnant until a dangerously small baby was born on the floor of her grandmother's house in Lottery, Jamaica, on Christmas Day. Staceyann's mother did not want her, and her father was not present. No one, except her grandmother, thought Staceyann would survive. It was her grandmother who nurtured and protected and provided for Staceyann and her older brother in the early years. But when the three were separated, Staceyann was thrust, alone, into an unfamiliar and dysfunctional home in Paradise, Jamaica. There, she faced far greater troubles than absent parents. So, armed with a fierce determination and uncommon intelligence, she discovered a way to break out of this harshly unforgiving world. Staceyann Chin, acclaimed and iconic performance artist, now brings her extraordinary talents to the page in a brave, lyrical, and fiercely candid memoir about growing up in Jamaica. She plumbs tender and unsettling memories as she writes about drifting from one home to the next, coming out as a lesbian, and finding the man she believes to be her father and ultimately her voice. Hers is an unforgettable story told with grace, humor, and courage.