Book cover of The New Noir

Book description

The expansion of the Black American middle class and the unprecedented increase in the number of Black immigrants since the 1960s have transformed the cultural landscape of New York.

In The New Noir, Orly Clerge explores the richly complex worlds of an extraordinary generation of Black middle class adults who…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The New Noir as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book helped me to understand the cultural complexity of my family—my father is a Jamaican immigrant, and my mother is a native-born African American—and the cultural richness of my neighborhood, Harlem, in New York City.

Like Lacy, Clerge centers her research in suburbia, not in a city. And Clerge explains how cultural distinctions across Caribbean and African American communities offer a rich tapestry of expression, and ways of being and belonging.

She reveals how cultural differentiation shapes and is shaped by class variation and strategies for navigating White domination and anti-Black racism. Clerge also discusses the implications for solidaristic…

If you love The New Noir...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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