Experience The Rainbow: New and Great In GLBTQI Books

Description: "When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage."--Amazon.com.

Description: "Recently jilted and increasingly unhinged, Dr. Voth throws himself into his work, obsessively researching the life of Jack Sheppard, a legendary eighteenth century thief. No one knows Jack's true story--his confessions have never been found. That is, until Dr. Voth discovers a mysterious stack of papers titled Confessions of the Fox. Dated 1724, the manuscript tells the story of an orphan named P. Sold into servitude at twelve, P struggles for years with her desire to live as "Jack." When P falls dizzyingly in love with Bess, a sex worker looking for freedom of her own, P begins to imagine a different life. Bess brings P into the London underworld where scamps and rogues clash with London's newly established police force, queer subcultures thrive, and ominous threats of an oncoming plague abound. At last, P becomes Jack Sheppard, one of the most notorious--and most wanted--thieves in history."-- Provided by publisher.

Description: From an early age, there was something different about Tommy and David Nutter. Both boys seemed destined to lead rather humble lives in post-war London--Tommy as a civil servant, David as a darkroom technician. Yet the strength of their imagination (plus a little help from their friends) transformed them into unlikely protagonists of a swinging cultural revolution. In 1969, Tommy opened an unusual new boutique on Savile Row. "Nutters of Savile Row" became an immediate sensation among the young, rich, and beautiful--performers, musicians, and album covers. David's talent with a camera vaulted him across the Atlantic to New York City, where he found himself among stars who enjoyed his dry wit almost as much as his photography. This is the true story of two gay men who influenced some of the most iconic styles and pop images of the twentieth century. Lance Richardson presents a dual portrait of brothers improvising their way through five decades of extraordinary events, their personal struggles playing out against backdrops of the Blitz, an obscenity trial, the birth of disco, and the devastation of the AIDS crisis.--From dust jacket.

Description: When Darnell L. Moore was fourteen years old, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire as he was walking home from school. Darnell was tall and awkward and constantly bullied for being gay. What happens to the black boys who come of age in neglected, poor, heavily policed, and economically desperate cities that the War on Drugs and mass incarceration have created? How do they learn to live, love, and grow up? Darnell was raised in Camden, NJ, the son of two teenagers on welfare struggling to make ends meet. He explored his sexuality during the height of the AIDS epidemic, when being gay was a death sentence. He was beaten down and ignored by white and black America, by his school, and even his church. He made it out, but escaping Camden, escaping poverty, and coming out do not guarantee you freedom. It wasn't until he was pushed into the spotlight at a Newark rally that he found his voice and his calling. He became a leading organizer with Black Lives Matter, a movement that recognized him and insisted that his life mattered. No Ashes in the Fire gives voice to the rich, varied experiences of all those who survive on the edges of the margins, and offers a path toward liberation.-- From statement provided by publisher.

Description: "When an evangelical preacher in Tennessee offers shelter to two gay men after a catastrophic flood, he's met with resistance by his wife and congregation, and eventually loses custody of his son. He decides to kidnap his son and flee to Key West, where he suspects his estranged gay brother is living"-- Provided by publisher.

Description: "The uneventful life of a jeweler from Tel Aviv changes abruptly in 2011 after Fareed, a handsome young man from Damascus, crosses illegally into Israel and makes his way to the ancient port city of Jaffa in search of his roots. In his pocket is a piece of a famous blue diamond known as "Sabakh." Intending to return the diamond to its rightful owner, Fareed is soon swept up in Tel Aviv's vibrant gay scene, and a turbulent protest movement. He falls in love with both an Israeli soldier and his boyfriend--the narrator of this book--and reveals the story of his family's past: a tale of forbidden love beginning in the 1930s that connects Fareed and the jeweler."-- Provided by publisher.

Description: Alain Locke emerged from Black Philadelphia around the turn of the century to mentor a generation of young artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them the New Negro--the creative African Americans whose art, literature, music, and drama would inspire Black people to greatness. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance. From the education of Locke, his becoming the first African American Rhodes Scholar, and his long career as a professor at Howard University to Locke's cosmopolitan, aesthetic education through his travels in continental Europe, where he came to appreciate the beauty of art and experienced a freedom unknown to him in the United States, he has yet became most closely associated with the flowering of Black culture in Jazz Age America and his promotion of the literary and artistic work of African Americans as the quintessential creations of American modernism. Shifting the discussion of race from politics and economics to the arts, he helped establish the idea that Black urban communities could be crucibles of creativity. This illustrious, enigmatic man who, in promoting the cultural heritage of Black people, became--in the process--a New Negro himself.-- From statement provided by publisher.

Description: "Who are the Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron? If you need to ask then you have not been anywhere near a television, computer, or disco recently. No other superheroes are as dedicated or dazzling as these gals. Some of them tuck, some of them are pure trout, but they kick ass in high heels and rollerskates. A.C. Wise's debut collection of heroic tales is half whimsy and half 1950s pulp reborn for the 21st century"--from Amazon page.

Description: "Robert Selby is determined to see his sister make an advantageous match. But he has two problems: the Selbys have no connections or money and Robert is really a housemaid named Charity Church. She's enjoyed every minute of her masquerade over the past six years, but she knows her pretense is nearing an end. Charity needs to see her beloved friend married well and then Robert Selby will disappear ... forever. Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, has spent years repairing the estate ruined by his wastrel father, and nothing is more important than protecting his fortune and name. He shouldn't be so beguiled by the charming young man who shows up on his doorstep asking for favors. And he certainly shouldn't be thinking of all the disreputable things he'd like to do to the impertinent scamp. When Charity's true nature is revealed, Alistair knows he can't marry a scandalous woman in breeches, and Charity isn't about to lace herself into a corset and play a respectable miss. Can these stubborn souls learn to sacrifice what they've always wanted for a love that is more than they could have imagined?"-- Provided by publisher.