This dictionary provides informative and readable histories of 46 black-owned publishing companies. Each profile contains information on the company's publications, lists of libraries holding them, bibliographies containing sources on the companies, and the names of officers and addresses for current organizations. Joyce's earlier work, Gatekeepers of Black Culture: Black-Owned Book Publishing in the United States, 1817-1961 (Greenwood, 1983), profiled 68 companies in its lengthy appendix and covered the history of the industry in its main text. All but four of the companies included here were cited in this earlier work, leaving one to wonder why the current work is not more comprehensive. Still, the book is of interest to public and academic libraries with collections in black history and culture.
- Marie F. Jones, Muskingum Coll. Lib., New Concord, Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“According to Joyce little attention has been given to the activities of black US book publishers. His dictionary attempts to rectify that situation with detailed profiles of 45 blackowned denominational, institutional, and commercial firms. Each article includes a brief narrative history followed by brief critical summaries of major books published. One reads, for example that Counter Clockwise by John Lee (A. Wendell Malliet and Co., 1940) is "melodramatic with patently stereotyped characters," and that Maleficium by Russell Atkins (Free Lance Press, 1971) is made up of 20 "skillfully crafted vignettes." The historical essays are supported with notes and bibliographies, lists of titles from the particular firms, names of libraries holding specific titles, and names of the firms' chief executive officers. In many cases Joyce obtained historical details and statistics of press runs directly from the publishers themselves, thus providing an insider's view of the world of black publishing. Some of the information here can also be found in Joyce's Gatekeepers of Black Culture: Black Owned Book Publishing in the United States, 1817-1981 (CH, Jul '83), but dictionary format makes the present work more convenient for reference use. Recommended for libraries of institutions where there is interest in black culture and history as well as those supporting studies in the history of American journalism.”–
“The book is indispensable for any research into Black book publishing. Its interest extends beyond the scholar to the ordinary citizen, who will find this book most useful.”–
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