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By Eleanor Hinton Hoytt and Hilary Beard
“At last, solid sister-to-sister information, advice, and non-nonsense straight talk about good health and how to really be good to yourself!"
— Marcia Ann Gillespie, Essence
Health First! provides today’s Black woman with a comprehensive guide to her #1 resource—herself. It empowers her with the information she needs to express her full physical, emotional, and spiritual potential.
This groundbreaking book is the product of three decades of work by the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the nation’s only non-profit organization devoted to advancing the health and wellness of Black women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. Health First! connects the dots through every stage of life—from adolescence through maturity. Grounded in vital research, as well as the realities of Black women’s lives, it identifies the Top Ten Health Risks that Black women face and discusses what can be done to avoid becoming another statistic. The focus is on prevention, awareness, and action, across generations and circumstances, presented in an authoritative, yet reassuring personal voice. In an age of uncertainty, Health First! provides the invaluable insights that Black women need to reprioritize their health and establish new traditions of well-being through self-love and self-care.
By Tavis Smiley Reports
“… a balanced account of solutions that we cannot allow to fail -- it could be the model for the transformational change that our democracy needs."
— John Thompson, award-winning historian, lobbyist and inner city teacher
Too Important to Fail: Saving America's Boys is the companion volume to the TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS PBS special. It examines an undeclared crisis in America-the staggering dropout rate among young black males. Nationwide fewer than 50% of young black males will graduate from high school. Low graduation rates combined with disproportionate rates of suspensions, expulsion, and high enrollment in special education classes, fuel this state of emergency. Tavis Smiley's candid conversations with frontline experts and educators, detention center administrators, and the boys themselves urges readers to ponder the societal and economic cost of losing another generation of uneducated young black males to lifetimes of prison and poverty. The Too Important to Fail Resource Guide lists 130 organizations who are committed to solving this monumental challenge.
Visit: http://www.tooimportanttofail.com for more info!
By Gardner C. Taylor
“…the quintessential preachers’ preacher. This is a classic…a must read for clergy and lay people alike!”
— Cleophus J. LaRue - Frances L. Patton Professor of Homiletics - Princeton Theological Seminary
In Faith in the Fire, civil rights activist and social-justice pioneer Dr. Gardner Taylor shares the inspirational wisdom gained throughout his extraordinary career as one of America’s most legendary and beloved preachers. The treasures collected here will inspire readers to pause and reflect on their lives and faith. Contained in this volume are Dr. Taylor’s observations, reflections, and teachings on subjects ranging from fear and faith to politics and integrity to wisdom and laughter. Faith in the Fire’s exquisite gift-book-with-original-CD format, featuring Tavis Smiley’s conversation with Dr. Taylor, makes it both a wonderful introduction for those new to his work and a welcomed companion for those who celebrate his enduring legacy.
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By Tavis Smiley
“A really talented broadcaster in the business!”
— Larry King, legendary talk-show host
“Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” This timeless quote by Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett has served as an inspiration for Tavis Smiley’s unprecedented success. By reflecting on his missteps, misdeeds, and miscalculations, the award-winning television and radio broadcaster has learned that while failure is an inevitable part of the human journey, it can also serve as your wisest teacher. As he celebrates his 20th year in broadcasting, Smiley recounts 20 instances of perceived “failure” that were, in fact, stepping stones to success. Smiley’s humanness inspires, informs, and reminds us of our inherent ability to achieve and grow in spite of life’s inevitable setbacks. Every day that you wake up, you get another chance to get it right, to bounce back from failures big and small—to fail up.
Edited by Chef Jeff Henderson with Ramin Ganeshram
“Pass It Down is an example to which we all should aspire: Whatever you do, don't keep that recipe to yourself. Pass it down—and "take back" your heritage.”
— Kim O’Donnel, food journalist for USA Today
The smells in the kitchen, the unforgettable flavors—these powerful memories of food, family, and tradition are intertwined and have traveled down from generations past to help make us the people we are today. Now, Tavis Smiley’s America I AM exhibit has joined forces with Chef Jeff Henderson and Ramin Ganeshram to create the American I AM Pass It Down Cookbook. This special keepsake preserves African Americans’ collective food history through touching essays, celebratory menus, and over 130 soul-filled and soul-inspired recipes. There’s even a section for you to add your own family recipes and “pass it down” to the next generation.
By Dante Lee
“If you are serious about entrepreneurship (not just playing it), you must read this book.”
— Alfred A. Edmond Jr., Sr. VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise, and host of WVON 1690 Chicago’s The Urban Business Roundtable
Black Business Secrets challenges you to develop the entrepreneurial mind-set and real-life skills that African American business owners must master to compete in a world where most new companies fail within three years. Lee focuses his entrepreneurial lens on subjects like separating black business facts from fiction, building your entrepreneurial muscles with a real business plan, developing brand-building best practices, and discovering if you have what it takes to endure short-term failure to achieve long-term success. Filled with practical insights, empowering examples, and real-life strategies that work, Black Business Secrets is the perfect success coach for today's entrepreneur.
By Iyanla Vanzant
"Written with searing honesty...this book will infuse you with the hope, strength, and courage you need to turn life's greatest challenges into blessings."
— Cheryl Richardson, New York Times best-selling author of Take Time for Your Life
New York Times best-selling author Iyanla Vanzant recounts the last decade of her life’s journey and the spiritual lessons learned—from the price of success during her meteoric rise as a TV celebrity on Oprah, the Iyanla TV show (produced by Barbara Walters), to the dissolution of her marriage and her daughter’s 15 months of illness and death on Christmas Day. Part wrenching personal chronicle, part powerful teaching, Iyanla’s phoenix rising from the ashes story is about money, men, life and death, and how to activate your GPS (God Protection System). Learn why everything you need to learn is reflected in your relationships and how to make sense out of the puzzle pieces of your life.
Edited by Clarence Reynolds
What will you leave behind? It’s time to discover the unique life imprint that only you can create. Record the infinite possibilities of your life’s journey, every day, in this beautiful journal inspired by Tavis Smiley’s traveling museum exhibition America I AM: The African American Imprint.
The America I AM Journal presents over two hundred thought-provoking quotations and compelling images that explore 400 years of African American history. It invites us to remember what we have received, what we have yet to give and why our shared legacy makes life worth living.
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By Tom Burrell
“Brainwashed is the most important book I will read this year. In fact, it may be the most important book I’ve read in the past decade.”
— Alfred Edmond, Jr., Editor-in-Chief of BlackEnterprise.com
Today, all Americans—Black and white—are deluged with a tsunami of words and images that promote the myth of Black inferiority. The seeds of this brilliant propaganda campaign were sown and skillfully fertilized during America’s lucrative slave trade. But in contemporary society, African Americans have become blind to the real roots of their own self-destructive behavior.
But Blacks aren’t the only ones blinded by the brainwash, says Burrell. When Harry Reid recently asserted Barack Obama’s political attractiveness lay in his lack of “Negro dialect” and light skin, he was vocalizing a belief many whites and Blacks silently, unconsciously accept: traits identified as “too Black” are viewed as signs of inferiority.
Brainwashed examines how every strand in the fabric of Black American life has been tainted by brainwashing—from family survival, entertainment, and sexuality, to health, education and leadership. In each chapter, Burrell skillfully connects the dots between the historical roots and their contemporary manifestations—the dynamic forces that perpetuate the myth of Black inferiority.
By Cornel West
Nominated for a 2010 NAACP Image Award
“Cornel West is one complex dude: brilliant scholar, political activist, committed Christian and soul brother to the bone.”
—TIME
How did a man dubbed by some as “the world’s smartest Negro” go from childhood bully to class president and honor student in Sacramento, California, to the halls of Harvard? These questions and many more are answered in Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, Cornel West’s long awaited life story, written with David Ritz. In this compelling and intimate exploration, West reveals the human heart behind the brilliant mind. He reflects on the joys of growing up in a home where education was a foundation stone, and why growing up in a neighborhood and not a ’hood dictates that he will always and forever be a “Shiloh Baptist kind of brother.”
In Brother West, Dr. West discusses his life’s great passions—the life of the mind and the prophetic Christian tradition that has shaped his deepest personal values of unconditional love and a courageous commitment to service. He shares lessons learned in the academy through his professorships at Union Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, Princeton, and Harvard, detailing the shocking and unexpected clash with Harvard’s controversial president Lawrence Summers and his decision to accept an invitation to return to Princeton in the aftermath.
By Jeff Johnson
“Jeff not only lays out the road map, he also helps you visualize where you’re going…An amazing tool for young or old, student or professional. Jeff’s insights are invaluable.”
— Kevin Liles, Executive Vice President, Warner Music Group, and best-selling author of Make It Happen: The Hip-Hop Generation Guide to Success
Nationally known, award-winning broadcast journalist, social commentator, and motivational speaker, Jeff Johnson is a man on the move. Whether sharing his unique perspective in weekly commentaries on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, hosting BET specials and town hall events, or breaking ground on his recent independent documentary work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq—Johnson, who “wakes up every day loving the work that I do,” is living his PERSONAL BEST.
Self-mastery isn’t easy. In his book, Everything I’m Not Made Me Everything I Am, Johnson beckons us on the road to self-discovery and takes us down the counter-intuitive road less traveled. He teaches us to ask not “Who Am I?” but rather “Who Am I Not?” Known for his straightforward, shoot-from-the-hip rapport with his audience, Johnson brings that same dynamic style to his debut book. He’s reached his personal best through a combination of life experiences learned and invaluable lessons taught by his mentors. These life lessons inspired him to create a powerful framework of proven “best practices” for those who need relevant examples and realistic help as they seek their own personal best—regardless of their age or life stage. Johnson dares us to make sure we aren’t living somebody else’s dream.
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Edited by SmileyBooks
Foreword by Tavis Smiley
Through exceptional photographic images and penetrating words, America I AM Legends captures the dynamism of 78 legendary African American individuals and institutions, highlighting the indelible imprint each has made on the United States and the world. A statement illuminating a unique aspect of each iconic figure—made by the legend or by someone carrying on their legacy today—portrays the vision and contribution of each subject.
Visit www.americaiamlegends.com »
America I AM Legends features the Black artistic genius of Toni Morrison and Alvin Ailey; the athletic excellence of Serena and Venus Williams and Michael Jordan; the political leadership of Ralph Bunche and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.; and those who struggle to make America true to its promise, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama. Each legend reminds us that America would be unrecognizable without its African American imprint.
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By Quintard Taylor
Time is the great equalizer. No person, race, culture, or nation stands beyond its reach or can alter its inevitable progress. Timelines, lists of events in chronological order as they happened, allow us to understand history as the evolution of events and eras. In the case of African American history, which has often been subjected to blatant and subtle distortion, a timeline can both set the record straight and expand our knowledge in new and exciting ways.
America I AM Black Facts is a companion volume to the four-year touring museum America I AM: The African American Imprint. It offers an introduction to the rich, complex, tragic, and triumphant history of the 40 million people of African descent over five centuries in what is now the United States. This fascinating volume features timelines that chronicle the indelible imprint of African Americans on the life, history and cultures of the world.
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Book + CD
By Cornel West
Nominated for a 2009 NAACP Image Award
"Uncompromising and unconventional...Cornel West is an eloquent prophet with attitude."- Newsweek
Educator, philosopher and New York Times best-selling author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters, Dr. Cornel West offers open-hearted wisdom for our times in Hope on a Tightrope, a courageous collection of quotations, speech excerpts, letters, and photographs all reflecting the profound humanity that fuels the passionate public intellectual. In a world that yearns for unarmed truth and unconditional love in the midst of cold greed and blind hatred, Hope on a Tightrope offers a new compass.
This provocative collection explores themes such as Identity and Race, Leadership, Love and Service, Social Justice, Faith, Family, and Wisdom. Hope on a Tightrope will challenge all those in search of new perspectives and provides deep wells of inspiration that marry the mind to the heart.
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By Tavis Smiley
THE COVENANT In Action is organized into three parts: stories about the projects and actions that everyday people have undertaken over the past year that were inspired by the Covenant with Black America; motivational essays from young Black activists who are on the ground impacting their environments; and a toolkit outlining steps you can take to organize, connect and act. The toolkit contains not only traditional action strategies, but also includes innovative approaches to organizing and community building that will result in stronger, more bonded communities that reflect their history and past experiences. The Covenant with Black America was only the first step. THE COVENANT In Action toolkit will prime and prepare individuals and communities to actually turn The Covenant book into a living, breathing movement!
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4-CD Commemorative Box Set with Booklet
By Tavis Smiley
"Whether you're a fan of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a fan of Tavis Smiley, or a fan of intelligent, introspective, informative, and inspiring messages for and about issues important to Black America, this set of CDs is a must have."
— Tom Joyner
For twelve years, twice a week, listeners of Tavis Smiley's commentaries on the Tom Joyner Morning Show heard Smiley express his views on a variety of topics that affected their lives. They knew they could count on Smiley, the resident political commentator and social critic, to evoke feelings straight from the heart. Topics on any given day could range from the hard-fought battle for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, to the alleged "racist" comments Don Imus made concerning the Rutgers University women's basketball team, or the endearing "mommy-isms" gleaned from Smiley's beloved "Big Mama."
Now, with the release by SmileyBooks of the 4-CD set On Air, listeners can revisit precious Smiley commentaries spanning 2004-2008, years when momentous events occurred in this country, from the origin on the Covenant Movement to the Clinton/Obama chronicles. The commemorative CD set comes with a booklet that features color photographs that capture the essence of Smiley and the Tom Joyner Morning Show, memorable moments, reflections from well-known fans of the show and the text of Smiley's last commentary.
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Book + CD
By Iyanla Vanzant
Nominated for a 2009 NAACP Image Award
The revised and expanded 20th Anniversary edition of Iyanla Vanzant's first published work, Tapping the Power Within, offers a powerful path to self-empowerment through the revitalization of Spirit. It is a guide to spiritual housekeeping. Written with Vanzant's signature healing stories, this classic guide to uniting the will with the spirit teaches that only you have the power to make a change for the better. Offered to assist you on your journey toward peace, love, success, and the freedom to be who you are, this book is a perfect companion on the way toward the real you. This exclusive edition also contains Vanzant's special "What I Know Now" commentaries and an original CD.
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By Tavis Smiley
This inspirational book is a collection of the best advice Tavis Smiley has ever received. Movie stars like Annette Bening, musicians such as Vanessa Williams, and friends including Cornel West offer serious, practical, and humorous advice on everything from relationships, careers and money to improving your character, overcoming obstacles, and realizing your dreams. Based on Smiley’s belief that while you can be successful without being great, you can’t be great without being successful, this book is designed to enlighten, encourage, and empower you!
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By Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley pours his passion for promoting positive change into these 50 personal empowerment cards. Each card will deliver an inspiring message that will encourage you to make the critical decisions to improve your everyday life. Smiley’s firsthand testimony and words of wisdom will enhance your life and the lives of those in your community. As Smiley says, “Keep the faith!”
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By Tavis Smiley
Expanding on the themes that connect us all, Tavis Smiley offers 70 personalized empowerment cards. Smiley’s words of introspection, wisdom, and encouragement will help you to think critically, enabling you to improve both your life and the lives of those in your family and community.
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Messages for Life Cards
By Bishop Noel Jones
In this deck of inspirational cards, orator and philosopher Bishop Noel Jones provides bite-sized servings of wisdom packed with nutrition for the mind. Each card presents a life-impacting message that is simple yet full of power—offering just enough to ponder without going too deeply. The messages within serve as a mental-fitness program for people of all faiths, cultures, and backgrounds, and you’ll find that they will strengthen your body, soul, and spirit!
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