The first in-depth study that reveals the imagery in, story behind, and significance of the Wall of Respect, a mural on Chicago's South Side whose creation and evolution exemplified the Black Arts Movement in the United States in the late 1960s.

Now available in paperback, this exciting book charts Jean-Michel Basquiat's groundbreaking career. Basquiat first came to prominence when he collaborated with Al Diaz to spray-paint enigmatic statements under the pseudonym SAMO(c). From there he went on to work with others on collages, Xerox art, postcards, performances, and music before establishing his reputation as one of the most important painters of his generation. This book places his collaborations in a wider art historical context and looks at his career through the lens of performance.

"A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected"--

The contemporary African writer's classic novel depicting the destruction of traditional tribal life by the white man

Jacob Lawrence was one of the best-known African American artists of the twentieth century. In Painting Harlem Modern, Patricia Hills renders a vivid assessment of Lawrence's long and productive career. She argues that his complex, cubist-based paintings developed out of a vital connection with a modern Harlem that was filled with artists, writers, musicians, and social activists. She also uniquely positions Lawrence alongside such important African American writers as Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison.

"Black women's heads of hair are galaxies unto themselves, solar systems, moonscapes, volcanic interiors." —Elizabeth Alexander, from the Introduction Using advertising photographs of black women (and men) drawn from vintage issues of Ebony and Jet magazines, the exquisite and thought-provoking collages of world-renowned artist Lorna Simpson explore the richly nuanced language of hair. Surreal coiffures made from colorful ink washes, striking geological formations from old textbooks, and other unexpected forms and objects adorn the models to mesmerizingly beautiful effect.

Africa has been coveted for its riches ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, and slaves that drew fortune-seekers, merchant-adventurers, and conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, and other valuable minerals. Land was another prize. The Romans relied on their colonies in northern Africa for vital grain shipments to feed the population of Rome. Arab invaders followed in their wake, eventually colonizing the entire region.

Wood has unique qualities, yet is undervalued or ignored in histories of architecture. However, leading designers around the world are increasingly drawn to it to satisfy social and environmental needs. Will Pryce, the most admired architectural photographer in Britain, has travelled the world seeking both famous and obscure buildings in wood. Intensely dramatic but not over-dramatized, technically flawless, but not merely documentary, his photographs convey all the excitement of encountering these amazing structures first hand.

A complete overview of architecture in fifty-three African cities, seen through the eyes and images of one of the world s leading young architects"