Kazi 88.7 Fm Book Review

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Marie Arana, author of LatinoLand.  LatinoLand is an all-encompassing overview of Hispanic America based on personal interviews, deep research, and Marie Arana’s life experience as a Latina. At present, Latinos comprise 20 percent of the US population, a number that is growing. By 2050, census reports project that one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage.  Marie Arana draws on her own experience as the daughter of an American mother and Peruvian father who came to the US at age nine, straddling two worlds, as many Latinos do.  Learn more about LatinoLand at Marie Arana - Latinoland: America's Largest and Least Understood Minority.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Ayana Mathis, author of the novel The Unsettled.  "The Unsettled is a spellbinding portrait of two fierce women reckoning with the steep cost of resistance: What legacy will we leave our children? Where can we be free? Learn more about the novel at The Unsettled — Ayana Mathis.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

In celebration of Women's History Month, we're featuring an interview conducted by Teens Choice Book Show host Maya Hay in January of 2021 with Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross, authors of A Black Women's History of the United States.  The book is described as "an empowering and intersectional history that centers the stories of African American women across 400+ years, showing how they are—and have always been—instrumental in shaping our country."At the time of the interview, Dr. Berry was the Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor of History and associate dean of the Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Gross was the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.  Today, Dr. Gross is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies at Emory University is and Dr. Berry is the Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Learn more about About | Daina Ramey Berry (d

In 2020 Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Koritha Mitchell, author of FROM SLAVE CABINS TO THE WHITE HOUSE.  As part of our continuing recognition of Black authors for Black History this year, I'm reposting this interview that was originally posted on the podcast site on October of 2020.  In the book Dr. Mitchell argues that it is Black success that is most likely to draw the ire of white mobs. Using characters in literature by black female writers from Zora Neale Hurston to Lorraine Hansberry, and the role in the White House of former first lady Michelle Obama, she demonstrates how Blacks have pursued success not in response to the forces that oppose them so much as they are continuing community traditions of affirming themselves while acknowledging that the resulting success will attract hostility.  Learn more about Dr. Mitchell at https://www.korithamitchell.com/about/.  Koritha Mitchell, PhD is an award-winning author, literary historian, cultural critic, and professional development

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Lisa B. Thompson, author of Underground, Monroe, and the Mamalogues: Three Plays. She was interviewed in August of 2020.  In these plays, the black feminist playwright and scholar thoughtfully explores themes such as the black family, motherhood, migration, racial violence, and trauma and its effect on black people from the early twentieth century to the present. The works showcase Thompson’s subversive humor and engagement with black history and culture through the lens of the black middle class. In addition to being an award-winning playwright, Dr. Thompson is a professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class. Learn more about Lisa B. Thompson at Home | Lisa B. Thompson (lisabthompson.com). Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebo

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Peniel E. Joseph, author of THE THIRD RECONSTRUCTION.  In THE THIRD RECONSTRUCTION Joseph weaves in his personal experiences growing up in segregated neighborhood of New York City with three critical periods in history in American history he describes as reconstruction periods: 1865-1898, 1954-1968, and 2008 to the present. In the book he writes, “There is the America that we might call reconstructionist, home to champions of racial democracy, and there is the America that we might call redemptionist, a country that papers over racial, class, and gender hierarchies through an allegiance to white supremacy. Since the nation’s birth, its racial politics have been shaped by an ongoing battle between reconstructionist America and redemptionist America.”Peniel Joseph’s web site is https://penielejoseph.wordpress.com/.Twitter -@PenielJosephInstagram - @dr.penieljosephDiverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @divers

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Melissa Rivero, author of the novel Flores and Miss Paula.  Flora and Miss Paula explores the relationship between a mother and her daughter as they attempt to navigate their daily lives while coping with the loss of a loved one. Melissa Rivero is the author of the award-winning book, The Affairs of the Falcons, and she is a graduate of NYU and Brooklyn Law School.  You can learn more about Melissa at www.melissa-rivero.com.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Karin Cecile Davidson, author of the short stories collection THE GEOGRAPHY OF FIRST KISSES.  "The fourteen ethereal stories are tethered to the bays and backwaters of southern Louisiana, the fields of Iowa and Oklahoma, the pine woods of Florida, places where girls and women seek love and belonging, and instead discover relationships as complicated, bewildering, even sorrowful."  Learn more about Karin and her books at the Karin Cecile Davidson web site.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

In July of 2019 host Hopeton Hay interviewed Randal Maurice Jelks, author of Faith and Struggle in the Lives of Four African Americans: Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams, and Eldridge Cleaver and Muhammad Ali.  In the book Dr. Jelks examined their autobiographical writings, interviews, speeches, letters, and memorable performances to understand how each of these figures used religious faith publicly to reconcile deep personal struggles, voice their concerns for human dignity, and reinvent their public image.Randal Maurice Jelks is an award-winning author, documentary film producer, and professor. He is the author of four books. His writings have appeared in the Boston Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, blogs, journals, and periodicals.  You can learn more about Dr. Jelks on his web site at Home - Randal Maurice Jelks. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Back on December 1, 2019, Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed actor Tembi Locke who had just published her memoir, FROM SCRATCH:A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home. The daughter of Black student activists in Houston, Locke penned a courageous story of love, family, and healing through the story of the romance between her and her Sicilian husband Saro, and his untimely death. In our interview we discussed how she met her husband while in Italy on a semester abroad from college, his family’s opposition to their marriage, and how her Sicilian mother-in-law’s love after Saro’s death helped her heal.  FROM SCRATCH became a New York Times best seller and a limited Netflix series. The series, “From Scratch,” became an instant global hit, spending weeks on Netflix’s Top Ten List in over thirty countries around the world and earning six NAACP Image Award nominations.  Learn more about Tembi at https://www.tembilocke.com/.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookre

In September of 2019 Diverse Voice Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Attica Locke, author of HEAVEN, MY HOME. Republishing this interview is part of DVBR's Celebration of Black Authors for Black History Month.  Attica was the first African American writer to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America with her 2017 novel, BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD.With HEAVEN MY HOME, Locke continues her exploration of race and racism in America through the prism of her crime novels. She displays it through her protagonist’s reception by the local towns people in Jefferson, Texas. She also explores it through the debate his uncles that raised him engaged in on, and I quote, whether forgiveness made black folks saints or stooges. She also includes as an integral part of her story a historic black community in the area, Hopetown, that was founded by blacks after the civil war and is home also to Caddo Indians. Attica Locke is the award winning author of five novels and a screenwriter. Her novel, Blueb

Diverse Voices Book Review host interviewed Tanya Golash-Boza, author of BEFORE GENTRIFICATION: The Creation of DC's Racial Wealth Gap.  "This book shows how a century of redlining, disinvestment, and the War on Drugs wreaked devastation on Black people and paved the way for gentrification in Washington, DC. In Before Gentrification, Tanya Maria Golash-Boza tracks the cycles of state abandonment and punishment that have shaped the city, revealing how policies and policing work to displace and decimate the Black middle class."  Learn more about the book at Before Gentrification by Tanya Maria Golash-Boza - Paperback - University of California Press (ucpress.edu). Tanya Maria Golash-Boza is the Executive Director of the University of California Washington Center and a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Merced. She is the author of five books that engage with issues such as racism, immigration policy, human rights, and race in Latin America.  Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Cadwell Turnbull, author of the speculative novel WE ARE THE CRISIS.  WE ARE THE CRISIS is the second novel in a planned trilogy focusing on a world where monsters live secretly among humans. The second book explores the aftermath of monsters being revealed to society and centers around on movements for civil rights and community organizing, all while posing philosophical inquiries about creation, existence, and power dynamics in a society adjusting to its new reality with monsters.Learn more about the book and author at Cadwell Turnbull's web site.   

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed John Harris, author of TOMLIN: The Soul of a Football Coach.  In just his second season as the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009, Mike Tomlin became the second African American coach to win the Super Bowl.  With interviews from former players, coaches, and executives, Harris lets readers in on what it’s like to play for Tomlin, why he is (or is not) beloved in Pittsburgh, and how his continued success has helped change the landscape of what NFL franchises look for in hiring a head coach. Learn more about the book at Tomlin (skyhorsepublishing.com).John Harris is a veteran journalist who has covered sports, culture, race, and the executive search industry for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, Tampa Bay Times, ESPN's Andscape, CBS Sportsline, and others. Formerly the co-host of The Ike Taylor Show and radio analyst of the Pittsburgh Power (Arena Football League), Harris is also the co-author of FROM GOLD TEETH TO GOLD JACKET (wit

In 2010, the same year that Pete Caroll was hired as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, he published the book WIN FOREVER: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion. I interviewed Carrolll for KAZI Book Review by phone in August of 2010 while he was in an airport waiting for his flight, thus the audio has some quality challenges. Nevertheless, in light of his hall of fame career as a college and NFL coach, and his recent firing a head coach of the Seahawks, I wanted to share this interview on his personal and coaching philosophy for success.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Steve Phillips, author of HOW WE WIN THE CIVIL WAR: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good.  The conversation between Hopeton Hay and the author revolves around the themes of civil rights, the ongoing struggle for racial equality, and the political tactics that have been used historically to suppress the rights of marginalized communities, particularly African Americans. Learn more about the book on his web site at https://www.stevephillips.com/.  

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Elizabeth Crook, author of the novel THE MADSTONE.  Set during Reconstruction in Texas in 1868, THE MADSTONE is an adventure story of a young frontiersman who helps a pregnant young mother and her child flee across Texas from outlaws bent on revenge. The outlaws are based on the historically true Swamp Fox gang which terrorized and killed blacks, and agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, a federal agency which provided relief and helped formerly enslaved people become self-sufficient.  In the interview we discussed Crook's commitment to tell the whole truth about Texas history in her storytelling. She cites storytelling as her motivation, as it is both educational and compelling.  Elizabeth Crook, who is the author of six novels, received the prestigious Texas Writer Award from the Texas Book Festival in 2023.Sign-up for the Diverse Voices Book Review email notification of interviews available to listen to at https://forms.office.com/r/NtvGUfwUgb  

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Dr. Gregg Hecimovich, a Hutchins Family Fellow at Harvard University and professor of English at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. His new book, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANNAH CRAFT: The True Story of the Bondwoman's Narrative, explores how Hannah Crafts escaped enslavement, and became a gifted writer who wrote about the inconceivable reality of her life and others who were victims of an oppressive society in the American South years before the Civil War.  Considered to be the first Black woman to compose a novel, Hannah Crafts wrote a story that depicted the lives of enslaved people and the many struggles they encountered in their everyday lives. You can learn more about Dr. Hecimovich at http://www.furman.edu and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @gregghecimovich.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Ytasha Womack, author of BLACK PANTHER: A Cultural Exploration.  In the interview, Womack discussed the impact of the Black Panther comics, and its significance within the context of Afrofuturism.  She also related the history of the Black Panther in Marvel comics, and how different writers have handled the character over the years, each bringing their own perspectives and cultural references to the stories.  Ytasha L. Womack is a critically acclaimed author, filmmaker, dancer, independent scholar, and champion of humanity and the imagination. Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture (2013) is the leading primer on the exciting subject which bridges science fiction, futurisms, and culture. 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed historian Dylan C. Penningroth, author of BEFORE THE MOVEMENT: The Hidden History of Civil Rights. In the interview, the discussion revolves around the presentation of black civil rights history and the importance of grassroots movements and everyday people's contributions. The conversation also delves into the start-up of Black associations and organizations, and the success of their organizations proving, contrary to the belief of white Americans, that Blacks have the capacity for self-governance, and were worthy of the vote and American democracy. Penningroth’s research for the book focused on county records across the south exploring the legal lives of Blacks. Dylan C. Penningroth is a professor of law and history at the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about the book at https://bit.ly/3SI29T4.  Sign-up for the Diverse Voices Book Review newsletter.