Black Thunder

"Black Thunder is the true story of a slave insurrection that failed ... Garbriel is a young slave, who ... decides to avenge the murder of a fellow-slave by leading the Negroes of Richmond, Virginia, against the landowners"--Cover.

'Gabriel Prosser's 1800 slave revolt allowed Bontemps to warn of the rebellion that would come of poverty and racial oppression. This metaphor of revolution is at the same time a highly pertinent representation of black masculinity that will reward students of gender, slavery and the sensibilities of the 1930s.' -Nell Irvin Painter

The acclaimed author of The Iskra Incident puts his experience as an Air Force commander and fighter pilot to extraordinary use once again in this top-notch techno-thriller, a "novel (that) rockets off the launch pad" (Library Journal). The U.S. and Soviets, long at peace on Earth, enter into a cold war in the far reaches of outer space.

This anthology of nine contemporary plays (all produced between 1975 and 1990) actively confronts the racial realities of American culture and celebrates the African American experience with originality and meaning. Playwrights include George C. Wolfe, Leslie Lee, Steve Carter, Amiri Baraka, P.J. Gibson, William Branch, Alexander Simmons, Ed Bullins, and August Wilson.

Thunder’s focus on the ways in which old myths and legends inform actions and beliefs on a contemporary Indian reservation in the American Southwest has established it as an ideal supplement for introductory classes in Native American studies, anthropology, crosscultural religion, folklore, and discourse analysis. As one reviewer states, “Knowledge and understanding about human cultural variation and possibilities just flows.” The current edition includes valuable updates of reservation life and the author’s fictive family members at Mescalero. The compelling four-day and four-night Mescalero Apache girls’ puberty ceremonial remains the backdrop of Farrer’s interpretive discussion of time and the mythic present. The oral traditions and instructions given to her by the late Bernard Second, her longtime Apache teacher, provide insight into the importance of narrative not just in ceremonials but also in daily life. Farrer neither romanticizes nor patronizes the Apachean people, who are presented as people with foibles as well as possessing much worthy of admiration. The Third Edition incorporates a fully developed concluding chapter—“Returning”—and furnishes thoughtful, end-of-chapter questions to prompt readers to explore their own reactions to the text.

Winner of the Newbery Medal, this remarkably moving novel has impressed the hearts and minds of millions of readers. Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect. * "[A] vivid story.... Entirely through its own internal development, the novel shows the rich inner rewards of black pride, love, and independence."—Booklist, starred review

Hearing this, it seems that the little boy is going to use his killer skill again. The belle who sees everything about the little boy can't help but feel soft again, but there is nothing she can do.