As an avid book reader and as some like to call me, a historian, I fully disect a book from cover to cover leaving no page unturned and no word unread. It is because of this, I ask hard hitting questions as I interview people. Here are just a few of the many books I have read with my honest reviews.
I have linked where to purchase these books below each review.
ENJOY!
Flesh & Spirit
Confessions of a Young Lord
by Felipe Luciano
C’mon now! How does a man go from a gang member to two years in prison, then becoming one of the co-founders of the Young Lords party, then joining the Last Poets – I ain’t finished with ya’ yet-then becomes the first Afro-Rican to become a newscaster in New York, a noted poet and now an author extraordinaire!
C’mon now, that’s impossible!
This Puerto Rican man who relates to his Blackness has sat at the knee of iconic figures such as Malcolm X, H. Rap Brown, and Jackie Onassis just to name a few.
C’mon now, that’s impossible!
Impossible it may be, but true it is in this energetic biopic piece about the one and only Felipe Luciano, a man before his time, of his time, and ready for any time! Luciano’s epic book, Flesh & Spirit, is a must-read for anybody, revolutionary, organizer, or worker at Walmart, this is a necessary read about where we came from, where we’re at, and where we are headed.
The John Carlos Story
The Sports Moment That Changed The World
by Dave Zirin, John Wesley Carlos, and Cornel West
A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s one of the most iconic images in sports history; Tommy Smith, Peter Norman, and John Carlos, gold, silver, and bronze medalists at the 1968 Summer Games, Carlos and Smith lifted their arms in a defiant salute as they stood on the podium at Olympic Stadium in Mexico City, a symbolic stand against racism. As Norman is no longer with us, there are two living legends (Carlos & Smith) still around in this dynamic chapter of American history. The John Carlos Story is the first book in which Carlos finally documents his side of this historic time.
The John Carlos Story is a gripping and insightful look not only at the life of Carlos but at the times we lived in during the dynamic decade of the 60’s. Carlos asks, “How can you separate sports from society?” You can’t, and The John Carlos Story reminds us why we cannot separate sports from society. Two African-American track stars used the stand to make a stand for those who couldn’t speak for themselves and became villains in their own country. At every turn, vilified and crucified, Carlos and Smith were intertwined into the fabric of US history, all the while receiving death threats and being turned down from job to job.
After receiving a talk and the green light from Dr. Martin Luther King, Carlos and Smith went on to make history while trying to be simultaneously silenced by iconic sprinter Jesse Owens, as well as Avery Brundage, the racist president of the International Olympic Committee. The turbulent times of the 60’s were put on blast and trumpeted by the stand that Carlos, Smith, and Norman took in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. But this stand was not just about racial injustice in sports; it was mainly about racial injustice in the United States. A poignant, life-altering, iconic moment in time that not only gripped the nation but gripped the world is detailed in this historic book that wants to change the world page by page!
A powerful memoir about an equally powerful time, by an equally powerful man, John Carlos. The John Carlos Story is a historically relevant book by a historically relevant man.
This is truly a book for the ages!
Wards Of The State
The Long Shadow of American Foster Care
by Claudia Rowe
When there is a problem, folks are known to say, “Where do we go from here?”
For decades, both the foster care and the criminal legal systems have been intertwined and systemically connected in a world of chaos, which they both have a hand in creating. As a former 27-year cop who was raised in a home with foster care children, I am not exactly Stevie Wonder when it comes to the problems that both of these entities have created and continue to marinate in. However, this amazing book, Wards of the State by Claudia Rowe, opened my eyes in ways I never thought possible, concerning situations that I had never even imagined.
Please don’t think that because you or someone you know has never been in the foster care system, that you don’t have any skin in the game, because you do. Annually, over 670,000 children experience foster care, and approximately 400,000 children are in foster care in the United States at any given time.
If you care about homelessness in this country, if you are concerned about our youth being vastly under educated, if you are concerned about sex trafficking of our youth, then you should, then you NEED to read this book, as it affects not only an enormous amount of families, but neighborhoods, our education system, and the jailed population.
Don’t just shake your head, don’t just talk about it, be about it! Claudia Rowe knows where the systems have failed, how they might be improved, and what gives her hope.
There is an old saying that youth is wasted on the young. Well, because of the intersection of the failings of the foster care and criminal legal systems, multitudes of victims are never given the opportunity to be young. In reality, they are born then pushed into a difficult adult world that you won’t believe until you read this book.
Claudia Rowe is the Truth.
Leave Out The Tragic Parts
A Grandfather's Search for a Boy Lost to Addiction
by Dave Kndred
A compelling, heartfelt, tragic, honest story of issues and pitfalls that strike just about every family in America. Anyone with a heart, anyone with concerns, anyone with a family should read this important book.
This is a true story concerning a real family striving to move forward through a myriad of real social problems. This is a gripping look at the strains and needs to be approved generational relationships not only amongst family but also particularly men and families. The father son dynamic without our American families can be so strained and harmful.
This is also a story of addiction which again most families in this country understand and suffer through. The addiction not only affects the addicted person but it reaches out grips and can strangle the entire family.
A tragic story yes, but also a beautiful story of a grandfather’s loving struggles to not only save his grandson but his entire family. A beautifully penned true life story by acclaimed sports writer Dave Kindred.
This is truly a must read, you will never forget it and it just may help your entire family.
Racial Innocence
Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality
by Tanya KaterÍ Hernández
Hernandez’s fantastic book unearths the bias that exists within communities of color and how it is interwoven into the fabric of white supremacy. Many people are unaware of the sad state of negative feelings that many Latinos have towards African-American and Afro-Latino peoples but trust many, many folks in the Latin communities are well aware of the biases that many of their people have versus other people of color.
This earth-shattering intra-respective book distinctly chronicles the myriad of circumstances and situations that have plagued people of color being abused, looked down upon, or just completely regarded by other people of color who think they are better because of the color of their skin, hair texture, or even facial variations. These horrific situations are played out in courts of law, law enforcement, jobs, housing, or anywhere where people are involved with others.
The NBA in Black and White
The Memoir of a Trailblazing NBA Player and Coach
by Ray Scott and Charley Rosen
Any book that starts off with an introduction by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe is something worth reading! This book by Ray Scott with Charlie Rosen is quite a ride through the illustrious playing and coaching career of Ray Scott. Scott went from the #4 draft pick of the 1961 NBA draft to being the first Black man to ever win the Coach of the Year award! Along this never before traveled road, Scott also not only played with and against some of the most iconic names in the NBA from Wilt Chamberlain, to Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West but he also met and conversed with social Giants Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier just to name a few, and the stories he hast to tell, damn!
Scott details what was wrong and right about the NBA in the 60s and 70s but also ventures into what is right and wrong with the NBA today. Scott’s direct, honest and non preachy ways of orating his opinions and stories is beyond reproach. This is a must read for anybody who wants to know the whole truth concerning the NBA then and now but is also interested in the societal issues that went on in the 60s and persist today.
Rickey
The Life and Legend of an American Original
by Howard Bryant
Finally a book about Rickey! You know a person is beyond the stratosphere when they can go by one name and everybody knows who the hell you’re talking about!
The 8th Wonder of the World, the Man of Steal, they all fit the one, the only the iconic Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson. The only player in baseball history to amass 3,000 hits, 2,000 runs, 2,000 walks, and 1,000 stolen bases, baseball’s all-time leader in leadoff home runs and for too many stats to keep going. As baseball historian Bill James said, “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famer’s!
One of baseballs most original superstars finally getting his do and pure Rickey style, you could love him, you could hate him, but you could not ignore what Rickey could do and would do just about all the time. His panther like strides on first base, the fingers wiggling, the extra wide turn and pulling on his jersey after hitting yet another home run. Rickey was just being Rickey, unique, electric, explosive, and yet the most polarizing and enigmatic player in baseball. Say what you wanted but Rickey was going to do exactly what Rickey wanted to do.
Author Howard Bryant has again done with Howard Bryant does, right compelling, honest, and interesting books about interesting figures. Bryant a critically acclaimed sports writer and culture credit has put his foot all up in this one! Just read this book to find out what made him makes Ricky be Ricky, because back during his playing days nobody seem to know, nobody took the time to try to find out who this man was and Bryant has done it.
For all of the disdain, jealousy, accolades and stardom that Rickey persevered through is detailed and broken down in the deepest of ways by Bryant’s writing style and work ethic. Any all century or all time baseball lineup has to include Rickey Henderson as its leadoff hitter, read this book and know and understand why.
Howard Bryant hits a grand slam!
The Big Fight
My Life In And Out Of The Ring
by Sugar Ray Leonard
I first interviewed Sugar Ray Leonard about 7 years ago, figuring that I knew everything there was to know about the fighter and the man, boy, was I wrong! Sugar Ray Leonard’s The Big Fight is a powerfully alluring and dynamic foray into the ups and downs, good and bad times of the glamorous and not-so-glamorous life of the one and only Sugar Ray Leonard. Inside the ropes, outside the ropes, we didn’t know Ray Leonard; heck, we didn’t even know Sugar Ray Leonard! Buckle up and enjoy the ride, the Sugar Man is back!
Along his journey, Ray Leonard was suffering from multiple child abuse situations, alcohol and drug addiction, all the while capturing the Olympic boxing gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, winning world titles in five different weight classes, defeating such iconic names as Roberto Duran, Tommy Kearns, and Marvin Hagler, Sugar. Yet along the way, Sugar we hardly knew ya!
Read, The Big Fight and you will know all about Sugar Ray’s incredible journey through life from a tough kid raised on the streets of an even tougher Baltimore to being a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Who knew? You’ll know by reading this 15-around fight of a book. Sugar tells all for all, you don’t want to miss this.
Whether you like sugar are not, Sugar Ray Leonard’s The Big Fight is too sweet to pass on, the Champ is Here!!! A must-read!
Brother West
Living and Loving OUT LOUD A Memoir
by Dr. Cornelius West
“Cornell West thinks like a sage, acts like a warrior, and writes like a poetic prophet.”
-Maya Angelou
There it is, right there, one great voice and mind waxing about another great voice and great mind!
As a huge fan of Cornell West, I’ve read many of his books, but Living and Loving OUTLOUD is an amazing memoir by Dr. West. Gil Scott Heron said the Revolution will not be televised. In this memoir, you can read the Revolution in Dr. West’s mind. Read why Dr. West is a Shiloh Baptist kind of brother with a philosopher’s groove concerning Albert Einstein to Malcolm X ! Learn why Dr. West? warm upbringing helped shape his phenomenal mind. A brilliant man who sees the world as his backyard truly sees himself as his mama’s boy, his brother’s keeper, and his father’s son. It’s magnetic and heartwarming to read that a man who has spoken to and read the most brilliant minds of our time truly honors his parents as his true heroes.
Dr. West truly knows that Race Matters and what chapters they are from Pat Buchanan to Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., I’ll stop there, just enjoy the ride. For all the Connecticut fans, find out why Dr. West loves women so much, especially in New Haven, Connecticut.
It’s an enlightening and amazing read into the life of a man who talks so fluently and elegantly concerning everything from the atom to collard greens. What’s shaped, who shaped, who helped, who hurt this most brilliant man?
From George Clinton and Parliament, from Mingus to Mozart, this book reads of reasons why Dr. Cornell West considers himself a bluesman in the life of the mind, and a jazzman in the world of ideas.” A truthful, thought-provoking, easy-read memoir by an everyday brother, Brother West. Some folks just call him Cornell and pass the collards.
Uppity
My Untold Story About The Games People Play
by Bill White
The extraordinarily outspoken Bill White tells, for the first time, the inside story of his life in the world of baseball in UPPITY.
In this tell-all autobiography, which includes a foreword by Willie Mays, he has written a baseball memoir that is as surprising as it is candid. Playing 13 seasons in the major leagues, five-time All-Star, seven straight Gold Glove awards, 18 years as a professional sportscaster (the first African-American to do regular play-by-play for a major league team,) as well as President of the National League (again, the first African-American to hold such a position,) White had an insider’s view of every aspect of the game. And what a view he’s had!
Playing major league baseball in the racially turbulent 60’s and 70’s, White deftly tells stories of not being able to stay in hotels with his teammates, and having to eat sandwiches on the bus by himself while they ate inside restaurants. From having racial epithets yelled at him while he was on the field and not being able to do anything about it, to meeting Jackie Robinson for the first time on the streets of Harlem, Bill White has seen and done it all.
A true pioneer as an African-American athlete, sportscaster, and top baseball executive, White has now written his long-awaited autobiography. It will not disappoint. White shares never-before-told stories about his long working relationship in the broadcast booth with Phil Rizzuto, and why he says he loves the man. White In UPPITY offers insights into Willie Mays, George Steinbrenner, Jackie Robinson, Billy Martin, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Howard Cosell (who gained White’s respect when he took up the cause of racial segregation in baseball in 1961 and was the only broadcaster to push the story), Bob Gibson, his dislike for former commissioner Fay Vincent, and scores of other top baseball names and Hall of Famers.
Best of all, White built his career on being outspoken, and the years fortunately have not mellowed him.UPPITY is a memoir that baseball fans everywhere will be buzzing about for years to come.
I interviewed Bill White for almost 2 hours about UPPITY and found him to be forthright, honest, and brutally hard-hitting, just like his book. This is truly a must-read.
West by West
My Charmed, Tormented Life
by Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman
The NBA silhouette image, NBA champion, MVP of the NBA finals, an Olympic gold medal winner, named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, Executive of the Year, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to six championships. After all these public accomplishments, one might think that you know, Jerry West and his story. Well, stop right there because you don’t. This soul-stirring, yet jaw-dropping autobiography of the one and only Jerry West is an enthralling look at the life and times of this basketball icon. You think you knew Jerry West (haha) well, just step into his world!
From a shy, athletic young boy to a teenager with murderous feelings towards his father, a father who mentally and physically beat the emotions out of his young son, until a young Jerry West threatened to take his father out. Periodically, overcoming his insecurities, the playground, and the hardwood basketball floors began to turn a young Jerry West into a man. A man who would win an Olympic gold medal with a teammate named Oscar Robertson, who would later go on to be his storied rival in NBA folklore, a man who would carry the weight of the world on his broad shoulders as his Lakers repeatedly got their butts kicked by the champion Boston Celtics, year after year, to a young man with interesting, robust stories concerning iconic teammates such as Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor, to a man who became one of the stately heads of the Los Angeles Lakers in guiding the dynamic, yet tempestuous dynamic duo of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to numerous championships.
And yet after so many professional and personal success stories, Jerry West still considers himself to be a work in progress. West by West is not just a sports book, it’s a life story full of ups and downs, trials and tribulations. A page-turner and a must-read, for the truth, go West, young man- West by West, the Jerry West story.
ICE
Why I Was Born To Score
by George Gervin
Iconic Cool is what George “Iceman” Gervin is! “Ice” is at the top of the list for the NBA as one of the greatest, coolest, and unique players in NBA history. George, or Iceman, is whatever persona he chooses to be at any given time. (Read the book, and you’ll understand why these two personas are different.) This book displays that Gervin is an even greater man than he was a player.
Gervin “finger rolls” through the journey of his life, where he started, where he ended up, what it did to him positively and negatively along his journey, and what he learned along the way; he has expressed to many folks, friends, families, athletes and now you ~ the reader.
Yes, there are many luminous and memorable stories of Gervin’s amazing basketball career in the ABA and the NBA, but “Iceman” also takes you on a cool roller coaster ride through the trials and tribulations of his off-the-court experiences as well.
This must-read book is as smooth and true as his unique jumper. I suggest that the reader share this amazing book with their young relatives and friends because many real and truthful life lessons in this book should truly highlight that George “Iceman” Gervin was a superstar on the court, but he’s also a superstar off the court!
ROY WHITE
From Compton to the Bronx
by Roy White with Paul Semendinger
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who does not like Roy White, and this inspiring book Chronicles his amazing career and amazing life. It was a joy to read stories about storied Yankees from Horace Clarke to Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson. Who would think that a boy raised on the streets of Compton would turn out to be a Yankee great? The stories in this book are not just revealing but Mr. White talks in depth about Yankee situations that all Yankee fans do remember, from the Billy Martin fight with Reggie Jackson in Boston (in which Mr. White shares my opinion) to whether you could truly believe what George Steinbrenner or Billy Martin ever told you.
This book is an entertaining page-turner that is a fast read to life not only as a Yankee but major league baseball as a whole. Mr. White is a regal man who was thrust into the Bronx Zoo and not only survived but excelled!
Roy White is truly how majestic Yankee who deserves a Monument at Yankee Stadium!
The NBA in Black and White
The Memoir of a Trailblazing NBA Player and Coach
by Ray Scott with Charley Rosen
Any book that starts off with an introduction by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe is something worth reading! This book by Ray Scott with Charlie Rosen is quite a ride through the illustrious playing and coaching career of Ray Scott. Scott went from the #4 draft pick of the 1961 NBA draft to being the first Black man to ever win the Coach of the Year award! Along this never before traveled road, Scott also not only played with and against some of the most iconic names in the NBA from Wilt Chamberlain, to Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West but he also met and conversed with social Giants Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Frazier just to name a few and the stories he hast to tell, damn!
Scott details what was wrong and right about the NBA in the 60s and 70s but also ventures into what is right and wrong with the NBA today. Scott’s direct, honest and non-preachy ways of orating his opinions and stories is beyond reproach. This is a must read for anybody who wants to know the whole truth concerning the NBA then and now but is also interested in the societal issues that went on in the 60s and persist today.
I Came as a Shadow
An Autobiography of John Thompson
by Jesse Washington
I had the distinct honor of interviewing Mr. Thompson at length and learned that he was more than a great college basketball coach, John Thompson was an icon of his period. Thompson’s autobiography authored by Jesse Washington hits like a left hook from Smokin’ Joe Frazier and you best try not to get counted out!
Thompson a brilliant, outspoken, mentor and role model for so many not just young men but people in general, dominated Georgetown basketball for 27 years and also put in Georgetown University on the map.
Be honest, who knew of Georgetown university or even gave them a second thought until Thompson became a coach in 1972 and later became the first Black head coach to win the NCAA Division 1 National Championship! Like him, love him, or despise him, be honest with yourself, you had no thoughts about Georgetown University until Mr. Thompson, “I Came Out as a Shadow” arrived.
Did you know that this Jesuit institution Georgetown University, used slaves to build this institution in 1789, Thompson did and that’s why it went on to be such a big deal for him personally when he became the first Black head coach to capture a major basketball college title.
Did you know that same university now has a statue in Thompson’s honor in front of the John R. Thompson Junior Intercollegiate Athletic Center on campus.
Did you know Thompson had a Georgetown record of 596 wins, 6 Big East tournament championships; 24 consecutive playoff appearances, including three Final Fours, sent 27 players to the NBA with 4 of those players and himself being placed into Naismith Hall of Fame, that he not only coached the US Olympic basketball team, but he won two NBA championships backing up Bill Russell on the Celtics! Let’s not even get into how he walked off the floor before game started in protest to Proposition 42 and ended up winning that whole situation!
All this and much, much more in the knockout of a book. Regarding his many naysayers Thompson wrote, “There’s a group of guys out there who sincerely don’t like me and hope they never see me again, I feel the same way about some of them, too.”
Did you know that right now you need to get this amazingly powerful autobiography of a true
icon, hero, and great man, “I Came as a Shadow the John Thompson” story.
Willie Horton 23
Detroit on Willy the Wonder, the Tigers First Black Great
by Willie Horton with Kevin Allen
Wow, finally, somebody wrote the book about the iconic great Detroit Tiger, Willie Horton! Horton was not only a great ball player with a huge bat that seemed like it was made from steel, but his pedigree, reputation, and what he did off the field make him the icon that he is not just in Detroit but in this country. There are quite a few reasons why his statue is outside of Detroit stadium, and one of the things was how, after a game versus the Yankees, while still in full uniform, Horton drove to the middle of the 1967 Detroit riots and stood on the hood of his car trying to squelch the riots.
Born and bred in Detroit projects, the youngest of 21 children, Horton not only hit monstrous 400-foot home runs but also helped lead his Tigers to a World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Bob Gibson in 1968.
This is a great book of family, perseverance, community activism, and awareness that led this great ball player to be the man he is. You can’t go wrong by reading this book and hearing all the fantastic stories of his incredible life.
Captain For Life
My Story as a Hall of Fame Linebacker
by Harry Carson
A Hall of Famer, Harry Carson was the immovable object in the middle of the New York Giants’ defense. Big # 53 was the last line of defense in the Big Blue defensive scheme, but in Captain for Life, Captain Carson is one of the first gridiron greats to speak out about Post-Concussion Syndrome. The man who was unleashing pain and mayhem on offensive linemen and running backs, as he opened the door for Lawrence Taylor to do his thing, Harry Carson, is now causing mayhem on the notion that former and current NFL players should just leave it all on the field.
Yes, Captain for Life has many glorious football stories concerning the star-studded Giant football teams of the 80’s. With Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor leading the way, the Giants won Super Bowl XXI, but how many players from both teams, in that era, actually remember those hard-hitting games, or even what they had for breakfast today? The chiseled out of stone Carson details in depth about his own ongoing neurological battles. Daily battles that weaken or delete memories, daily battles that make the smallest of daily routines, such as buttoning one’s own shirt, a source of constant frustration. We love these gridiron warriors for leaving it all on the field, but at what price do the players pay, as they may not even remember being on those fields?
True courage is doing what needs to be done, regardless of one’s own personal safety net. Harry Carson is a true warrior who is not concerned about his personal safety net. Carson has penned a book that has opened the gates to let the truth run free about the aftereffects of not only NFL football, but college and high school as well. Carson, on my sports radio show, stated that knowing what he now knows about the lingering effects of a football, he does not want his grandsons playing the game. Wow! Truly a hard-hitting statement, but one can expect no less from such a great man as Harry Carson, who courageously, in Captain for Life, talks of his own battles with depression and fear for the future.
If you are a fan of football, the Giants, or fantastic personal stories, this is a must-read penned by a true gridiron great and Hall of Famer, but an even greater man, the one and only Harry Carson, Captain for Life.
My View From The Corner
A Life In Boxing
by Angelo Dundee with Bert Randolph Sugar
The life and stories of legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee. “My View from the Corner” is an intriguing and streetwise look at Dundee’s life in the Big Show. Any man who can claim to be the trainer to such legends and icons as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and George Foreman surely has some tales to tell, and Angelo Dundee surely delivers a knockout!
Written by acclaimed boxing aficionado Bert Sugar, “My View from the Corner” is a must-read for folks who want to know the innermost thoughts and dealings of the above-listed great champions and more. All of the deepest secrets of these great warriors are told in the old, spun boxing verbiage of the sage known as Angelo Dundee, boxing’s trainer to the stars.
What did George Foreman really feel about his shocking loss to Ali?
What did Dundee feel as Ali’s trainer and friend when Ali was telling the press that the white man “is the devil”?
How did Sugar Ray Leonard personally disappoint Dundee?
What does Angelo Dundee consider to be the best and worst about the state of boxing today?
Angelo Dundee and Bert Sugar, “My View from the Corner,” is a fast read into the inner sanctum of yesterday and today’s world of boxing, a look that will surely knock you OUT!!!
Hey Angelo, bring the smelling salts!
Dropping The Ball
Baseball's Troubles and How We Can and Must Solve Them
by Dave Winfield With Michael Levin
It’s about time that someone wrote a book about the ills of Major League Baseball. Yet, it is even more significant that someone penned a book about how to fix these problems that trouble America’s pastime, or is it still truly America’s pastime?
Dave Winfield’s Dropping the Ball is a book that is right on time, but in relevance to other baseball books, it is ahead of its time. Nowhere can one find a superstar of the game not writing about his teammates’ dirty laundry, nor how he was disrespected by the game or the national press, but what is wrong with the fiber of the game and how to right it.
Winfield’s non-condescending tone speaks to the everyday person in a manner that not only glistens from Winfield’s vast personal experience as a past player but also enlightens us novices in the inner workings of this highly lucrative yet troubled game.
Dropping the Ball delves into baseball’s ownership and what their duties should be versus what they are, the media and corporate partners, the fans, the agents, colleges, and youth coaches. Winfield also has thought-provoking chapters, such as The New Color Line and The Last Black Major Leaguer, whereas he feels that “the last African American Major League Baseball player, the very last one to reach The Show, is twelve years old as you read these words.”
Paraphrasing another futuristic chapter, Dropping the Ball leads its readers into Baseball in the Twenty-first Century. So put on your spikes, and the old jersey of your favorite player, and jet plane this fast-reading book to the land of what it was, to what it is, to what it should be.
Don’t drop the ball, because Winfield doesn’t!
And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since
From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress
by Charles Rangel with Leon Wynter
Yes indeed, from the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress, this Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, war hero, human rights warrior, and father/husband is truly an American hero. Congressman Rangel truly keeps it real, keeps it right in this dynamic new book.
The Charles Rangel story is such an easy read because it reads like a cool drive with the top down, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, all the while also filled with brutal honesty, anecdotes, and humor. Kind of like sitting at your wise old grandfather’s knee while he spun the yarn about his trials, tribulations, failures, and successes.
Congressman Rangel doesn’t only grab your attention with “back in the day,” but he tells the reader about the truths of today’s society, and also where this country is headed if we do not right the course, NOW!
In this “politically correct” society in which we live, it’s refreshing to hear a major force in our leadership speak without a forked tongue or whispering his or her opinions. These are a few of the reasons why Congressman Rangel has been a force to be reckoned with and in office for thirty-six straight years.
“And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since “ is not only a must-read for you, but your grandparents, parents, children, students, friends, and anyone who you care about or who cares about our country. This book is for them. It’s about the haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor, educated versus non-educated, black and white, yesterday, today, and tomorrow in the political world, and your world. This book is not a slice of American pie; it is the WHOLE pie, tasty, filling, and you always want more!
Forty Million Dollar Slaves
The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
by William C. Rhoden
If this title doesn’t grab you by the throat, you might want to check your pulse.
Former NFL All-Star Calvin Hill said it best: “Forty Million Dollar Slaves caused me to alternately shake my head in violent disagreement one moment only to find myself nodding the next.”
World-renowned author William c. Rhoden takes the reader deep into the bowels of the often chaotic and seamy underside of the societal and sports relationships between black athletes and the owners, coaches, media, as well as their fans.
Rhoden contends, “That many Black athletes exercise of true power is as limited today as when master forced their slaves to race and fight. The primary difference is that today’s shackles are often of their own making.”
Whew, deep enough to slap the taste out your mouth!
The “Conveyor Belt” chapter is so insightful and challenging that Arsenio Hall would come back and place his 8-inch finger on his forehead and say Hmmm!
The “River Jordan” chapter maps out how and why Michael Jordan only flowed downhill when it came to black causes or even his opinions, if he ever had any.
How can, or better yet, how dare black athletes, as millionaires, be thought of as forty million dollar slaves! Rhoden lays his thoughts and theories like a Muhammad Ali jab straight and hard!
Be ready to think, get angry, knowingly smile, argue, or debate with your friends, but this book should be on everyone’s bookshelf, every college’s curriculum, in every athlete’s and coach’s locker as well as every owner’s yacht.
The truth hurts, but it’s good for the soul.
What's My Name, Fool?
Sports and Resistance in the United States
by Dave Zirin
From later-day icons Jackie Robinson, Tommie Smith, and Ali to modern-day athletes Carlos Delgado, Maurice Clakett, and Kobe Bryant, “What’s My Name, Fool’ dissects, explains, and challenges the yin and yang of some of the biggest names in the sports world.
Zirin melts his deep knowledge of sports with his passion for history and mixes in his societal viewpoints on racism, classism, and sexism. Bottom-Line is all the ism’s are covered.
Dave Zirin is not only an out-of-the-box thinker, but he’s unafraid to put his feelings on the pages concerning many issues and causes that most current writers won’t touch today.
Not for the open-minded challenged, “What’s My Name, Fool” is a must-read for anyone searching for the truth in the crazy world of sports.
Z-man is the man.
Chocolate Thunder
The Uncensored Life and Times of Darryl Dawkins
by Darryl Dawkins and Charley Rosen
Bun toaster, rim shaker, spine chiller supreme, read this book to see what I mean! Daryle Dawkins slam-dunks the falsehoods about the NBA, the way he ripped down backboards – with a vengeance!
Squawkin’ Dawkins tells all and more concerning tales of drugs, racism, and sex in the NBA during his 14-year reign in the show.
Being the first player to move directly including high school to the NBA at the age of 18, Dawkins played alongside and against legends from Dr. J, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Isaiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman… the revelation concerning the near fight between Dawkins and Karl Malone over “Shakira,” a shared girlfriend, is worth the price for the book alone! Guess the Mailman couldn’t deliver.
D.D.’s story is told with a rare combination of brutal honesty and humor, all delivered with good ole’ slap your mama southern twang.
Why did D.D. feel that?
Robert Parish was “over-rated”.
Guys were afraid to defend “Super” John Williams.
The NBA had Michael Ray Richardson followed.
Chocolate Thunder shocks, rocks, and locks his readers into enjoying the read to “Planet Lovetron” in this funny and revealing exposé.
A Black Man in a White Coat
A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine
by Damon Tweedy, M.D.
Damon Tweedy’s memoir, A Black Man in a White Coat, hits like a clean right hook to the gut—equal parts personal narrative, social commentary, and medical case study. Tweedy, a psychiatrist and professor at Duke, lays out the uncomfortable intersections of race, health, and medicine in America with clarity and raw honesty.
The book begins with Tweedy’s own uneasy entry into Duke Medical School, where he is met with the casual racism of a professor assuming he’s a maintenance worker. From there, he takes us on a journey through his training and career, where the realities of racial disparities in health outcomes are not abstract statistics, but living, breathing people—patients suffering from preventable diseases, often shaped by poverty, systemic neglect, and distrust of medical institutions.
What gives the memoir its weight is Tweedy’s dual lens: as both a Black man navigating a predominantly white, elite medical world, and as a physician responsible for caring for patients who often look like him. He grapples with seeing hypertension, diabetes, and mental health struggles ravage Black communities, while also confronting his own biases and blind spots. The book feels almost confessional as Tweedy admits when he fell short, when he judged too quickly, or when he felt pulled between assimilation into the white medical establishment and solidarity with Black patients and colleagues.
Tweedy writes with a balance of clinical precision and personal vulnerability. His anecdotes never drift into self-pity; instead, they shine a light on the larger systemic forces at play. The recurring theme is that medicine is never practiced in a vacuum—structural racism, socioeconomic inequality, and the lived realities of patients bleed into every diagnosis and prescription.
A Black Man in a White Coat is a vital read for anyone who wants to understand how race and medicine collide, not in theory, but in exam rooms, waiting areas, and hospital wards across America. Tweedy forces us to reckon with the fact that the health of Black America is inseparable from the health of America itself.
A necessary, eye-opening memoir that puts human faces on the statistics of racial health disparities. Honest, unsettling, and deeply humane.
Long Shot
The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter
by Craig Hodges
Craig Hodges’ Long Shot isn’t your typical basketball memoir. Yes, the three-time NBA Three-Point Contest champion takes readers courtside, but this book is less about the arc of his jumper and more about the arc of his conscience. It’s a story of talent, principle, and the heavy price of speaking truth to power in a league that prefers its stars marketable, not militant.
From the Chicago playgrounds to the NBA, where he became a sharpshooter and key role player on the Chicago Bulls during the early Michael Jordan era. But unlike his more famous teammates, Hodges refused to play the role of silent athlete. He was outspoken about racial inequality, economic injustice, and America’s failure to uplift its Black communities—topics the NBA in the late ’80s and early ’90s had no interest in amplifying.
One of the book’s most powerful moments is Hodges showing up at the White House after the Bulls’ 1992 championship, dressed in a dashiki, handing President George H.W. Bush a handwritten letter outlining the plight of poor Black communities. Not long after, despite his obvious talent, Hodges found himself blackballed from the league. The parallels to Colin Kaepernick are impossible to ignore, except Hodges lived it decades earlier.
Long Shot blends basketball stories with political critique. Hodges doesn’t shy away from naming names: he criticizes Jordan for his political silence, NBA owners who saw activism as bad for business, and a system that thrives on the labor of Black athletes while discouraging their voices. Hodges’ truth, unfiltered and unapologetic.
The book’s larger argument is clear: being a great athlete doesn’t exempt you from the responsibility of being a great citizen. Hodges saw himself in the lineage of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—athletes who used their platforms to confront power. The cost, for him, was his career.
Long Shot is both a basketball memoir and a political manifesto. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the intersection of sports, race, and activism. Hodges’ story is a reminder that history often remembers the champions, but it takes longer to honor the ones who sacrificed their careers to speak for the voiceless.
MACHO TIME
The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho
by Christian Giudice
Boxings #1 Christian Giudice has done it again! After authoring such compelling books as Hands of Stone: The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran, and Beloved Warrior, The Rise and Fall of Alexis Arguello, Giudice has authored a power-packed “MACHO TIME,” The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector “Macho” Camacho!
You won’t be disappointed in this sad, honest but thrilling book about one of the most dynamic personalities in boxing history, Hector “Macho” Camacho. Camacho was a supremely talented yet personally troubled young man. While Camacho used as much of his talent as he could, the demons repeatedly calling him from the streets and his well-hidden bizarre and drug problems made most boxing experts wonder, what if!
Camacho had a ton of personality combined with an artistic flair and a big heart, but “Macho Man” could be a demon not only in the ring but also outside. A guy who would give the shirt off his back to a guy on the streets also had a mercurial bully side to him that alienated some. This book is stocked full of unknown stories concerning the abbreviated life of the almost iconoclastic “Macho” Camacho, who suffered such a tragic ending.
If you are a boxing fan or love stories of troubled stars, this is a great book to read, Giudice in his amazing style, has penned a story of promise, success, heartbreak, and murder.
Get this fantastic book. What time is it? It’s Macho time!!!