Beacon: 545 books
Outlaws of the Atlantic
Sailors, Pirates, and Motley Crews in the Age of Sail
Language: English
Release Date: August 12, 2014
This maritime history "from below" exposes the history-making power of common sailors, slaves, pirates, and other outlaws at sea in the era of the tall ship.
In Outlaws of the Atlantic, award-winning historian Marcus Rediker turns maritime history upside down. He explores the dramatic...
The Tricky Part
A Boy's Story of Sexual Trespass, a Man's Journey to Forgiveness
Language: English
Release Date: March 25, 2014
“This account of a Roman Catholic boyhood interrupted—and derailed—retains a luminous, novelistic complexity that sets it apart from similar tales of stolen childhoods.” (Ben Brantley, New York Times)
Between the ages of twelve and fifteen, Martin Moran had a sexual relationship with...
For All of Us, One Today
An Inaugural Poet's Journey
Language: English
Release Date: November 19, 2013
For All of Us, One Today is a fluid, poetic story anchored by Richard Blanco’s experiences as the inaugural poet in 2013, and beyond. In this brief and evocative narrative, he shares for the first time his journey as a Latino immigrant and openly gay man discovering a new, emotional understanding...
by Sonia Sanchez
Language: English
Release Date: February 1, 2010
Language: English
Release Date: February 1, 2010
This new volume by the much-loved poet Sonia Sanchez, her first in over a decade, is music to the ears: a collection of haiku that celebrates the gifts of life and mourns the deaths of revered African American figures in the worlds of music, literature, art, and activism. In her verses, we hear the...
The Third Reconstruction
How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear
Language: English
Release Date: January 12, 2016
A modern-day civil rights champion tells the stirring story of how he helped start a movement to bridge America’s racial divide.
Over the summer of 2013, the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II led more than a hundred thousand people at rallies across North Carolina to protest restrictions...
The Rastafarians
Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Language: English
Release Date: July 1, 2010
The classic work on the history and beliefs of the Rastafarians, whose roots of protest go back to the seventeenth-century maroon societies of escaped slaves in Jamaica. Based on an extensive study of the Rastafarians, their history, their ideology, and their influence in Jamaica, The Rastafarians...
Quiverfull
Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement
Language: English
Release Date: March 1, 2009
Kathryn Joyce's fascinating introduction to the world of the patriarchy movement and Quiverfull families examines the twenty-first-century women and men who proclaim self-sacrifice and submission as model virtues of womanhood—and as modes of warfare on behalf of Christ. Here, women live within stringently...
Blue Iris
Poems and Essays
Language: English
Release Date: September 15, 2004
For poet Mary Oliver, nature is full of mystery and miracle. From the excitation of birds in the sky to the flowers and plants that are "the simple garments" of the earth, the natural world is her text of both the earth's changes and its permanence.
In Blue Iris, Mary Oliver collects...
Shout, Sister, Shout!
The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Language: English
Release Date: January 15, 2007
Long before "women in rock" became a media catchphrase, Rosetta Tharpe proved in spectacular fashion that women could rock. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, in 1915, she was gospel's first superstar and the preeminent crossover figure of its "golden age" (1945-1965). Everyone who...
One Teacher in Ten in the New Millennium
LGBT Educators Speak Out About What's Gotten Better . . . and What Hasn't
Language: English
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Twenty completely new stories of negotiating the triumphs and challenges of being an LGBT educator in the twenty-first century
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For more than twenty years, the One Teacher in Ten series has served as an invaluable source of strength and inspiration for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender...
by Cornel West, Christa Buschendorf
Language: English
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Language: English
Release Date: October 7, 2014
An unflinching look at nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies.
In an accessible, conversational format, Cornel West, with distinguished scholar Christa Buschendorf, provides a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders: Frederick...
Soul Serenade
Rhythm, Blues & Coming of Age Through Vinyl
Language: English
Release Date: January 26, 2016
A coming-of-age memoir about a young boy in rural Arkansas who searches for himself and his distant father through soul music
Growing up in rural Arkansas, young Rashod Ollison turned to music to make sense of his life. The dysfunction, sadness, and steely resilience of his family and neighbors...
Hip Hop Matters
Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2005
From its humble beginnings in the Bronx to its transformation into a multibillion-dollar global industry, hip hop has stirred constant and contentious debate. Avoiding the simple caricatures that either celebrate or condemn this powerful movement, S. Craig Watkins produces one of the most thorough...
The Cure For Everything
Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and Happiness
Language: English
Release Date: April 24, 2012
In this era of health-science research, rarely a day goes by without a public pronouncement of some exciting health-enhancing discovery: a new diet, a new fitness routine, a new drug or alternative therapy, the miracles achieved by genetic mapping. And we are told—by the media, health-care experts,...