Long Distance Life
click on the title or cover to order online!

Golden, Marita
Ballantine Books. 321p.
ISBN: 0-345-36711-1. $10

Golden places her story in a city she knows well, Washington, DC. Naomi leaves North Carolina in the South to become a housekeeper up North and is able to buy herself a boarding house from the money she wins playing the numbers. She gets married and has a daughter, Esther, who is a disappointment, because she drops out of college and gets pregnant for a married man. Esther also chooses not to embrace her mother’s middle-class values. She returned to the South to work in the Civil Rights Movement. It is very frustrating for Naomi, especially since Esther’s youngest son Nathaniel turns to the street. She finds she can only rejoice in Esther’s other son Logan, who becomes a doctor. This novel that stretches across three generations, reveals how the world constantly changes.

Jazz Man’s Journey: A Biography of Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr.
click on the title to order online!

Handy, D. Antoinette
Scarecrow. 160p.
ISBN: 1-57-886-006-7. $22.95

Handy shares the story of the acclaimed musician and his rise from early days in New Orleans to the international jazz scene. Handy’s findings came from interviews she conducted with family, friends, and leaders in the music industry. Included is a special section written by Marsalis that reveals his secrets on how to create an enduring music career.

They Can't Hide Us Anymore
Havens, Richie with Steve Daidowitz
Avon Books. July. 352p.
ISBN: 0-380-97718-4. $24
click on the title or cover to order online!

Havens, a performing and recording artist for more than thirty years, recounts his musical career from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to his success in Greenwich Village, New York City, during the Sixties. Havens may be remembered mostly for his performance at Woodstock, but he still performs on numerous college and tour dates. He shares his experience with such emerging stars as Bob Dylan, Jimmi Hendrix, and Lou Gossett, Jr. (who co-wrote one of Havens' songs), and others.

Havens is quite an example and has become a champion of the environment and journeyed to the Middle East on a peace mission. He still works on environmental issues and is presently committed to the causes of young people.