Böcker utgivna av Beacon Press

A BookSense Notable Title for February 2007Once in a Promised Land is the story of a couple, Jassim and Salwa, who left the deserts of their native Jordan for those of Arizona, each chasing their own dreams of opportunity and freedom. Although the two live far from Ground Zero, they cannot escape the nationwide fallout from 9/11. Jassim, a hydrologist, believes passionately in his mission to keep the water tables from dropping and make water accessible to all people, but his work is threatened by an FBI witch hunt for domestic terrorists. Salwa, a Palestinian now twice displaced, grappling to put down roots in an inhospitable climate, becomes pregnant against her husband's wishes and then loses the baby. When Jassim kills a teenage boy in a terrible accident and Salwa becomes hopelessly entangled with a shady young American, their tenuous lives in exile and their fragile marriage begin to unravel . This intimate account of two parallel lives is an achingly honest look at what it means to straddle cultures, to be viewed with suspicion, and to struggle to find save haven.

The first book by an African American liberal about black conservatism and its growing appeal among African Americans today. What exactly is a black conservative, and why would anyone choose to be one? This question, deemed largely irrelevant in years past, is one that liberals can no longer afford to leave unanswered. While the 2006 midterm elections buoyed liberals, Democrats have in fact been losing ground with their African American base. In 1972, fewer than 10 percent of African Americans identified themselves as conservative; today nearly 30 percent-11.2 million-do. By contrast, the number of blacks who self-identify as liberal continues to decline, reaching a low of 13 percent in 2004. In this groundbreaking book, Bracey explains black conservatism's growing appeal and traces its hidden and underappreciated history. Though black conservatives are becoming the most visible voices within African American politics and culture, few realize that the black conservative tradition predates the Civil War and is an intellectual movement with deep historical roots. Bracey takes his readers on a remarkable journey, tracing the evolution of black conservative thought from its origins in antebellum Christian evangelism and petty entrepreneurialism to its contemporary expression in policy debates over affirmative action, law enforcement practices, and the corrosive effects of urban African American artistic and cultural expression. Bracey examines black neoconservatives like Shelby Steele and John McWhorter and reveals the philosophies of prominent political conservatives such as Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. With a revealing chapter on the infotainment effect of Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, pundits, and bloggers, Bracey analyzes the tradeoffs made by conservatives-many of which raise serious questions about whether conservatives today are effectively protecting the interests of blacks. Original and penetrating, Saviors or Sellouts is the first account of why conservatism remains a coherent and compelling alternative for African Americans today. Quotes "This marvelous book is required reading to understand the phenomenon of conservatism in the most progressive group of Americans-Black people." -Cornel West, author of Race Matters "This important and fascinating engagement with the growing black conservative movement illuminates one of the most vexing political trends of our time. Written by a leading African American liberal, it powerfully traces the intellectual character and practical appeal of this growing movement, and offers a realistic and empathetic yet sharply critical appraisal." -Ira Katznelson, author of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America and Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University "Bold and provocative, Saviors or Sellouts challenges us to rethink long-standing political labels as part of larger quest for social justice and black community empowerment in the twenty-first century." -Peniel E. Joseph, author of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America "In seeking to chart the topography of black conservatism, Bracey undertakes a task not only necessary to the new millenium's politics of blackness but also brave. Neither black liberals nor conservatives have a monopoly on the truth, nor does either group have an innate right to the hearts and minds of the community; it is only by respecting each other enough to engage in a respectful debate that blacks can heal themselves and fight for their preferences in the body politic. This work will aid immeasurably in achieving that goal. It is long overdue." -Debra J. Dickerson, author of The End of

Told in the voice of a girl as she moves from childhood into adolescence, Buxton Spice is the story the town of Tamarind Grove: its eccentric families, its sweeping joys, and its sudden tragedies. The novel brings to life 1970s Guyana-a world at a cultural and political crossroads-and perfectly captures a child's keen observations, sense of wonder, and the growing complexity of consciousness that marks the passage from innocence to experience. 'A superb, and superbly written, novel of childhood and childhood's end . . . Kempadoo writes in a rich Creole, filling her story with kaleidoscopic images of Guyana's coastal plains . . . Her story is also one of sexual awakening, and she explores these new feelings with a curiosity and freedom that are refreshing . . . Kempadoo's novel, like the Buxton Spice mango tree, reveals its secrets, private and political, only sparingly until the bitter end.' -Patrick Markee, New York Times Book Review 'Oonya Kempadoo . . . has written a sexy, stirring, richly poetic semi-autobiographical first novel.' -Gabriella Stern, Wall Street Journal 'As juicy and ripe as the fruits drooping from the Buxton Spice mango tree . . . Kempadoo's Caribbean argot is precise and fluid, enriching this debut with bawdiness, violence, and raucous humor.' -Los Angeles Times 'There is a salt freshness to Kempadoo's writing, an immediacy which makes the reader catch breath for pleasure at the recognition of something exactly observed . . . She is a writer to watch and to enjoy, for her warmth, her fine intelligence and her striking use of language.' -Paula Burnett, The Independent (London)* Oonya Kempadoo, author of Tide Running, was born in Sussex, England of Guyanese parents and was raised in Guyana from the age of four. She studied art in Amsterdam and has lived in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Tobago, and now Grenada. She was named a Great Talent for the Twenty-First Century by the Orange Prize judges and is a winner of the Casa de las Americas Prize.

Bury those easy-to-read Black romance books. Mosquito is where African-American literature is heading as we approach the twenty-first century.--E. Ethelbert Miller, Emerge

A pioneering collection of essays exploring what it means to some women to be lesbian.

The most reliable and comprehensive source of information about every major aspect of te lives of gay men and lesbians.

Boucher celebrates the many contributions of women to American Buddhism and provides an intimate look at the lives of women who are the teachers, scholars, nuns, and followers of a newly evolving Buddhist practice in this country. "A thought-provoking examination".--Victoria Scott, San Francisco Chronicle. Photos.

Starting in 1964, writes Margot Adler in this dazzling memoir, ';I found myself mysteriously at the center of extraordinary events.' Now a correspondent for National Public Radio, Adler was a young woman determined to be taken seriously and to be an agent of changeon her own terms, free from dogma and authoritarian constraints. From campus activism at the University of California at Berkeley to civil rights work in Mississippi, from antiwar protests to observing the socialist revolution in Cuba, she found those chances in the 1960s. Heretic's Heart illuminates the events, ideas, passions, and ecstatic commitments of the decade like no other memoir. At the book's center is the powerfuland uniquecorrespondence between Adler, then an antiwar activist at Berkeley, and a young American soldier fighting in Vietnam. The correspondence begins when Adler reads a letter the infantryman has written to a Berkeley newspaper. ';I've heard rumors that there are people back in the world who don't believe this war should be. I'm not positive of this though, 'cause it seems to me that if enough of them told the right people in the right way, then something might be done about it. ... You see, while you're discussing it amongst each other, being beat, getting in bed with dark-haired artists ... some people here are dying for lighting a cigarette at night.' Heretic's Heart also explores Adler's attempt to come to terms with her singular legacy as the only grandchild of Alfred Adler, collaborator of Freud and founder of Individual Psychology, and as the daughter of a forceful beauty who bequeaths her spunk and adventurousness to her daughter, but whose overpowering personality forces Adler to strike out on her own. Adler's memoir marks an initiatory journey from spirit through politics and revolution back to spirit again. Revealing, funny, joyful, and often wise, Heretic's Heart will restore the spirit of the 1960s: the passion, the confusion, the sense of social transformation and limitless possibility, and the ecstatic feeling that the world is on the cusp of change.

A Los Angeles Times Book Review Best Book of 1996'Without books how could I have become myself?' In this wonderfully written meditation, Lynne Sharon Schwartz offers deeply felt insight into why we read and how what we read shapes our lives. An enchanting celebration of the printed word.