I’ve always found it interesting that someone had to throw Jackie Robinson the ball for there to be a Jackie Robinson. Give talent and passion the right team to play on, and, as they say, the rest is history. In no less a historical spotlight, I am proud to present you with I Rise – The Transformation of Toni Newman, the first memoir written in America by a member of the African American transgender community. It is gut-wrenchingly honest, factually supported, and well written. Dr. Marc Weiss Ph.D., Former Associate Professor of Urban Development, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University wrote the foreword to this memoir, is a best-selling author, and a former member of the Clinton administration. I Rise is the true story of Toni Newman’s transformation from an internally conflicted male to a proud, pre-operative transsexual. Born the eldest son into a strict Christian family, Toni admits knowing from her earliest days that she “was a different bird born in the wrong body.” With laser-guided sincerity, curiosity, and above all, humor and compassion, Toni tells her story of being a “sissy boy,” a scholarship student, a business professional, an escort, a drag queen, a NYC prostitute, an LA dominatrix, and finally, a transsexual attending law school in order to help her transsexual sisters in need. From cross-dressing and Bible Study classes in Jacksonville, North Carolina, to writing and studying while tending to the fetish fantasies of Hollywood’s A-list, I Rise is far from a tale of fitting in. It is instead a unique and mesmerizing study of finding oneself in a world where gender and beauty can be hard fought for and earned. And Toni Newman, more than anyone else I know, deserves to be proud of her identity. Through the complete loss of friends, family support, employment and shelter, Toni was never deterred from seeking the path that was right for her. When a minority community so stricken by drug abuse, sexual exploitation, explosive suicide rates, and lack of education, has a voice rise out of it as courageous and profound as Toni Newman’s, you do everything you can to make sure it’s a home run heard the world over.
I RISE-THE TRANSFORMATION OF TONI NEWMAN
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Toni Newman is a 1985 graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. She is currently studying law with plans of becoming a lawyer defending the Transgenders and their rights. For the last twenty years, Toni has been making Male-to-Female (MTF) transformation. For ten years, she worked as a professional mistress with a female mistress and male master. They were known as THE EROTIC PROFESSIONALS with celebrity clients. Together with her business partner, Alton Willoughby, Toni has written a teleplay and screenplay about the trio's escapades as escorts. It would be her greatest wish to be the first African American Transgender to have her script made successfully into a feature film.
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More About the Author
Toni Newman is a 1985 graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. Studying law with plans of becoming a lawyer defending Transgenders (especiallly minorities)and their rights. For the last 25 years, Toni has been making Male-to-Female (MTF) transformation. For ten years, she worked as a professional mistress with a female mistress and male master. They were known as THE EROTIC PROFESSIONALS with celebrity clients. Together with her business partner, Alton Demore, and British Director Keith Holland, Toni has written a teleplay (The Erotic Professionals) and screenplay (Heart of a Woman) about the trio's escapades as escorts and life as a black transgender in America. Toni just recently produced comedy webisode, Douche Bros, with Executive Producers Alton Demore, David Veach and Laurent Hazout directed by British Director Keith Holland starring Chris Conrad and Jaime Zevallos. Her book I Rise-The Transformation of Toni Newman is available on Amazon.com now as hardcopy or kindle ebook.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'll go along with Sally Sapphire and give it four stars (though I haven't read it) not wanting to destroy the rating. But, there is no way I'm going to pay $45.00 for this book. Why doesn't the author "get real" and bring it out on Kindle for under $10? I'd really love to read it, but it would need to be the greatest story ever told for me to pay that much, and I think that's already been written. Good luck!
On 5/5/11 Samuel Rafael added "TO UPDATE INTERESTED READERS: Please note, the author just repriced this book and it is now $9.99. Just search for "I Rise" under books and you will see both are listed now."
On 5/5/11 Samuel Rafael added "TO UPDATE INTERESTED READERS: Please note, the author just repriced this book and it is now $9.99. Just search for "I Rise" under books and you will see both are listed now."
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
After being the first to write a review questioning the $45.00 price tag that originally accompanied this book, I felt almost compelled to purchase it the moment I noticed the author seemingly had heeded my advice (and that of all the "seconds" by other interested folks) and repriced it at my suggested purchase point of $9.99. For the most part, although it was rather short in length and sometimes a bit repetitious, I wasn't sorry I did so.
The author's account held my interest as she described her gradual, impactful and almost inexorable march toward gender transition. This autobiographical narrative was a very moving, graphical and seemingly honest presentation of the author's journey from a male gender role to a female one. Along with her transformation, the author vividly describes the struggles of being transsexual in the context of the enhanced hardships she endured, just by virtue of being an African American transsexual, an exceptionally rare bird indeed. Her viewpoint, as a person of color, provides the reader with a much different and very unique perspective.
I found the account of the author's transition to be quite a refreshing change from the more common, almost cookie-cutter narratives of the similar journeys of white, middle class types, not that those transitions weren't unique and fraught with their own particular issues, it's just that no other account I've read about previously was by a black transgender person, and very few memoirs or autobiographies reveal such intimate details of what many would consider to be a rather sordid side of life. The author, who lived for many years on the "Wild Side," has obviously come through her experience in great emotional shape, keeping that part of her existence in complete prospective as being necessary for her survival at the time. Other memoirs, "I'm Not Myself These Days," by Josh Kilmer, or, "The Champagne Slipper" by Joann Layne, come to mind as being comparable in this sense.
Just a couple of concerns I wanted to express. First, in terms of the writing, which on the whole is excellent, I want to point out that being "transgender" or "transsexual" is described on several occasions as a "life style," when, in reality, it isn't that at all, but as much a part of a person as their arm. I know the author realizes this, but I think this idea is expressed incorrectly a few times, including in the forward, written by a learned individual.
In addition, I felt the author did quite a bit of gratuitous "name-dropping," particularly in the first half, that wasn't really necessary to the cause of the book. It seems that there wasn't much connection with the celebrities she encountered at that time, other than simply crossing paths with them. Later on, the author relates that she interacted, rather intimately it seems, with some other famous individuals, but doesn't mention their names, obviously not to embarrass them. However, one can determine who they were by doing a search of the author's name on Google, as the author apparently did eventually disclose their identities in interviews she did.
Lastly, this book is a very short and disappointing four-hour length, as a Kindle text-to-speech experience, but let me take the high road here and just say that I'm pleased the author repriced it and that, although short and sweet, I really enjoyed it.
The author's account held my interest as she described her gradual, impactful and almost inexorable march toward gender transition. This autobiographical narrative was a very moving, graphical and seemingly honest presentation of the author's journey from a male gender role to a female one. Along with her transformation, the author vividly describes the struggles of being transsexual in the context of the enhanced hardships she endured, just by virtue of being an African American transsexual, an exceptionally rare bird indeed. Her viewpoint, as a person of color, provides the reader with a much different and very unique perspective.
I found the account of the author's transition to be quite a refreshing change from the more common, almost cookie-cutter narratives of the similar journeys of white, middle class types, not that those transitions weren't unique and fraught with their own particular issues, it's just that no other account I've read about previously was by a black transgender person, and very few memoirs or autobiographies reveal such intimate details of what many would consider to be a rather sordid side of life. The author, who lived for many years on the "Wild Side," has obviously come through her experience in great emotional shape, keeping that part of her existence in complete prospective as being necessary for her survival at the time. Other memoirs, "I'm Not Myself These Days," by Josh Kilmer, or, "The Champagne Slipper" by Joann Layne, come to mind as being comparable in this sense.
Just a couple of concerns I wanted to express. First, in terms of the writing, which on the whole is excellent, I want to point out that being "transgender" or "transsexual" is described on several occasions as a "life style," when, in reality, it isn't that at all, but as much a part of a person as their arm. I know the author realizes this, but I think this idea is expressed incorrectly a few times, including in the forward, written by a learned individual.
In addition, I felt the author did quite a bit of gratuitous "name-dropping," particularly in the first half, that wasn't really necessary to the cause of the book. It seems that there wasn't much connection with the celebrities she encountered at that time, other than simply crossing paths with them. Later on, the author relates that she interacted, rather intimately it seems, with some other famous individuals, but doesn't mention their names, obviously not to embarrass them. However, one can determine who they were by doing a search of the author's name on Google, as the author apparently did eventually disclose their identities in interviews she did.
Lastly, this book is a very short and disappointing four-hour length, as a Kindle text-to-speech experience, but let me take the high road here and just say that I'm pleased the author repriced it and that, although short and sweet, I really enjoyed it.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Twinkle
Format:Paperback
This book was enlightening, entertaining and downright funny. I definitely did not know that all mentioned were playing for the other team (no issues be be true to yourself). The author made me feel so proud that although she had to go through trial, thribulation, etc she was still true to herself and out winning in end. This is a good read, but no way in the world i would pay $45.00 for it. A co-worker of mines had it (do not know where she bought it from but i know as cheap as she is she did not pay $45.00). Good book, but definitely not worth $45.00.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just the right read
Excellent just what I needed. Will purchase again. Knew it would be what I wanted. Recommend buyer! A must have!
Published 6 months ago by bella1976
5.0 out of 5 stars
Toni Newman's I Rise
I wish it were longer. I read this book over two days and it took me about 6 to 8 hours to read from cover to cover. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Bay
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Significant Book, But Not the First
Not to diminish Ms. Newman's groundbreaking book in any way, but it's not, as claimed in the book description, the first. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Dallas Denny
2.0 out of 5 stars
I rise by Toni Newman
The book was very short and limited details. She dose not give good details on her sexual account with LL Cool J, could have been anyone. No distinct details. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Pinkcotton
1.0 out of 5 stars
horrible..dont waste your money
This book talks about nothing at all for $45.99. Dont waste your money. He does not speak about anyone or anything important. I read very often, and this really was a drag. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mrs Clark
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth the money
This book, which only took 4 hours to read, was a total waste of money. This book is not helpful in anyway, and this author is confused. Read more
Published on May 7, 2011 by Pearl
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh (and refreshing) take on the transsexual experience
I Rise is a fresh (and refreshing) addition to the growing realm of transgender memoirs, being the story of someone who is proudly black, proudly gay, and proudly transsexual. Read more
Published on April 29, 2011 by Sally
5.0 out of 5 stars
I RISE-THE TRANSFORMATION OF TONI NEWMAN
This is the first african american transgender to write a memoir and i love it. It makes you open your mind and look at this hidden community in a whole different light. Read more
Published on April 20, 2011 by AW
