James McBride

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About James McBride

James McBride is the author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller, The Color of Water. A former reporter for The Washington Post and People magazine, McBride holds a Masters degree in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

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Titles By James McBride

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Deacon King Kong: A Novel Mar 3, 2020

by James McBride

( 12,589 )

$8.99

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction

Winner of the Gotham Book Prize

One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year"

Oprah's Book Club Pick

Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine

A Washington Post Notable Novel

From the author of the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

The Color of Water Feb 7, 2006

by James McBride

( 4,507 )

$12.99

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Library Binding , Paperback , Audio CD

The Good Lord Bird: A Novel Aug 20, 2013

by James McBride

( 3,619 )

$11.99

Now a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke and Daveed Diggs

Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction

From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong (an Oprah Book Club pick) and The Color of Water comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive.

Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856--a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces--when legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives. When an argument between Brown and Henry's master turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town--along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm.

Over the ensuing months, Henry, whom Brown nicknames Little Onion, conceals his true identity to stay alive. Eventually Brown sweeps him into the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Song Yet Sung: A Novel Feb 5, 2008

by James McBride

( 403 )

$12.99

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, Deacon King Kong, Five-Carat Soul, and Kill 'Em and Leave, a James Brown biography.

In the days before the Civil War, a runaway slave named Liz Spocott breaks free from her captors and escapes into the labyrinthine swamps of Maryland’s eastern shore, setting loose a drama of violence and hope among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves, and free blacks. Liz is near death, wracked by disturbing visions of the future, and armed with “the Code,” a fiercely guarded cryptic means of communication for slaves on the run. Liz’s flight and her dreams of tomorrow will thrust all those near her toward a mysterious, redemptive fate.

Filled with rich, true details—much of the story is drawn from historical events—and told in McBride’s signature lyrical style, Song Yet Sung is a story of tragic triumph, violent decisions, and unexpected kindness.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Miracle at St. Anna Sep 2, 2008

by James McBride

( 326 )

$12.99

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, and Deacon King Kong

James McBride’s powerful memoir, The Color of Water, was a groundbreaking literary phenomenon that transcended racial and religious boundaries, garnering unprecedented acclaim and topping bestseller lists for more than two years. Now McBride turns his extraordinary gift for storytelling to fiction—in a universal tale of courage and redemption inspired by a little-known historic event. In Miracle at St. Anna, toward the end of World War II, four Buffalo Soldiers from the Army’s Negro 92nd Division find themselves separated from their unit and behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are treated with less respect than the enemy they are fighting, they discover humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema—in the peasants who shelter them, in the unspoken affection of an orphaned child, in a newfound faith in fellow man. And even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, they—and we—learn to see the small miracles of life.

This acclaimed novel is now a major motion picture directed by Spike Lee.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback , Audio, Cassette

Five-Carat Soul Sep 26, 2017

by James McBride

( 306 )

$10.99

One of The New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2017

“A pinball machine zinging with sharp dialogue, breathtaking plot twists and naughty humor... McBride at his brave and joyous best.” —New York Times Book Review

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, Deacon King Kong, and Kill 'Em and Leave, a James Brown biography.

The stories in Five-Carat Soul—none of them ever published before—spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge. They’re funny and poignant, insightful and unpredictable, imaginative and authentic—all told with McBride’s unrivaled storytelling skill and meticulous eye for character and detail. McBride explores the ways we learn from the world and the people around us. An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face unexpected judgment. An American president draws inspiration from a conversation he overhears in a stable. And members of The Five-Carat Soul Bottom Bone Band recount stories from their own messy and hilarious lives.

As McBride did in his National Book award-winning The Good Lord Bird and his bestselling The Color of Water, he writes with humor and insight about how we struggle to understand who we are in a world we don’t fully comprehend. The result is a surprising, perceptive, and evocative collection of stories that is also a moving exploration of our human condition.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul Apr 5, 2016

by James McBride

( 303 )

$12.99

“You won’t leave this hypnotic book without feeling that James Brown is still out there, howling.”—The Boston Globe

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, Deacon King Kong, and Five-Carat Soul

Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown embodied the contradictions of American life: He was an unsettling symbol of the tensions between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. After receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth, James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history, illuminating not only our understanding of the immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated Godfather of Soul, but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s enduring legacy.

Praise for Kill ’Em and Leave

“A tour de force of cultural reportage.”—The Seattle Times

“Thoughtful and probing.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Masterly . . . powerful.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“McBride provides something lacking in most of the books about James Brown: an intimate feeling for the musician, a veracious if inchoate sense of what it was like to be touched by him. . . . It may be as close [to ‘the real James Brown’] as we’ll ever get.”—David Hajdu, The Nation

“A feat of intrepid journalistic fortitude.”—USA Today

“[McBride is] the biographer of James Brown we’ve all been waiting for. . . . McBride’s true subject is race and poverty in a country that doesn’t want to hear about it, unless compelled by a voice that demands to be heard.”—Boris Kachka, New York

“Illuminating . . . engaging.”—The Washington Post

“A gorgeously written piece of reportage that gives us glimpses of Brown’s genius and contradictions.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Black and proud: Auf der Suche nach James Brown und der Seele Amerikas (German Edition) Aug 14, 2017

by James McBride, Werner Löcher-Lawrence

( 8 )

$11.99

Der Mann hinter dem Mythos James Brown.

"Godfather", "Mr. Dynamite" und "Da Number One Soul Brother": James Brown war eine der exzentrischsten und wirkmächtigsten Figuren der Popmusik. Doch es gab auch den anderen James Brown, das Kind schwarzer Landarbeiter in den ärmlichen Verhältnissen von Augusta, Georgia. James McBride begibt sich in Interviews mit ehemaligen Bandmitgliedern, Managern und Familienangehörigen auf seine persönliche Suche nach dem Mann hinter dem Mythos James Brown - und nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise durch das ganz andere Amerika: die Südstaaten, Heimat der Unterdrückten, der Magier, Trickster und Gestaltenwandler. Vom Leben des zerrissenen Musikers weitet sich dabei der Blick auf die kulturelle Landschaft einer zutiefst gespaltenen Nation.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Der heilige King Kong: Roman (German Edition) Mar 15, 2021

by James McBride, Werner Löcher-Lawrence

( 23 )

$13.19

Barack Obama - Lieblingsbücher 2020

Die ruhigen Tage scheinen gezählt in der kleinen Baptistengemeinde "Five Ends" im Süden Brooklyns. An einem warmen Septembertag im Jahr 1969 tritt der alte Diakon Cuffy Lampkin, genannt "King Kong", mit einer Waffe auf den zentralen Platz seines Sozialbauviertels, hält sie vor aller Augen dem hiesigen Drogendealer ins Gesicht - und drückt ab. Ausgerechnet King Kong, der keiner Fliege etwas zuleide tun kann. Wie konnte es dazu kommen? Schnell zeigt sich, dass sich die Schicksale aller Gemeindemitglieder - der Afroamerikaner wie der Latinos, der abgehalfterten Mafiosi wie der korrupten Cops - in dieser unvorstellbaren Tat überkreuzen. Und dass himmlische Gerechtigkeit und Strafe manchmal eine ziemlich irdische Angelegenheit sind...

Other Formats: Hardcover

Pioneer Biography: Sketches of the Lives of Some of the Early Settlers of Butler County, Ohio Volume 2 Jun 27, 2018

by James McBride

( 2 )

$7.95

This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for kindle devices. We have endeavoured to create this version as close to the original artefact as possible. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we believe they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

The Good Lord Bird: La storia di John Brown (Italian Edition) Feb 11, 2021

by James McBride

( 10 )

$14.99

Il romanzo da cui è stata tratta l’omonima serie trasmessa in Italia da Sky Atlantic con Ethan Hawke come protagonista.

Il Kansas del 1856 è un campo di battaglia tra abolizionisti e schiavisti. La vita del giovane schiavo Henry Shackleford viene stravolta dall’arrivo in città del leggendario paladino abolizionista John Brown: quando una discussione tra il padrone di Henry e Brown si tramuta in uno scontro a fuoco, Henry è costretto a scappare insieme a Brown che, fin dal primo momento, lo scambia per una ragazza e lo considera il suo portafortuna. Henry, soprannominato “Cipollina”, si troverà così a viaggiare attraverso gli Stati Uniti insanguinati dalla guerra per la “liberazione della gente di colore” nei panni di una donzella. Dapprima profondamente a disagio per questo scambio di genere, finirà per apprezzarne i vantaggi: non dover faticare, poter passare inosservato e non dover rischiare la vita in guerra. Dopotutto, come dice lo stesso Henry, la menzogna è l’unica strategia di sopravvivenza degli schiavi neri nei rapporti con i bianchi. Insieme a John Brown seguirà le reali tappe della sua vita, compreso lo storico raid di Harpers Ferry nel 1859, uno dei grandi catalizzatori della guerra civile. Spassoso mix di storia e immaginazione raccontato con l’occhio meticoloso di McBride per i dettagli e i personaggi, The Good Lord Bird è un’avventura travolgente, ma anche una commovente esplorazione dell’identità e della lotta per la sopravvivenza.

Dall’autore bestseller James McBride, un caposaldo della nuova letteratura black vincitore del National Book Award e definito dalla giuria «una voce comica e originale come non se ne sentivano dai tempi di Mark Twain».

«The Good Lord Bird è davvero brillante. Ha tutto quello che secondo me deve avere un romanzo, mi ha trasportato e anche trasformato».
John Green

«Una commedia spassosa. McBride confeziona un ritratto magistrale, come un Mark Twain moderno».
«The New York Review of Books»

«Un romanzo turbolento, molto divertente e assolutamente originale... C’è qualcosa di profondamente umano in questa storia, qualcosa che ricorda l’opera di Omero o di Mark Twain».
«The Washington Post»

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