Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness
Authors and Contributors      Edited by Rebecca Walker
Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:160
Dimensions(mm): Height 210,Width 140
Category/GenreLiterary essays
ISBN/Barcode 9781593764173
ClassificationsDewey:814
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Counterpoint
Imprint Soft Skull Press
Publication Date 7 February 2012
Publication Country United States

Description

Black Cool explores the ineffable state and aesthetic of Black Cool. From the effortless reserve of Miles Davis in khakis on an early album cover, to the shock of resistance in black women's fashion from Angela Davis to Rihanna, to the cadence of poets as diverse as Staceyann Chin and Audre Lorde, Black Cool looks at the roots of Black Cool and attempts to name elements of the phenomena that have emerged to shape the global expectation of cool itself. Buoyed by some of America's most innovative thinkers on the subject--graphic novelist Mat Johnson, Brown University Professor of African Studies Tricia Rose, critical thinking and cultural icon bell hooks, Macarthur winner Kara Walker, and many more--the book is at once a handbook, a map, a journey into the matrix of another cosmology. It's a literal periodic table of cool, wherein each writer names and defines their element of choice. Dream Hampton writes about Audacity. Helena Andrews about Reserve, Margo Jefferson on Eccentricity, Veronica Chambers on Genius, and so on. With a foreword by Henry Louis Gates that bridges historical African elements of cool with the path laid out for the future, Black Cool offers a provocative perspective on this powerful cultural legacy.

Reviews

Praise for Black Cool "Walker and her band of scribes are in top form, giving a rich, varied picture of Black cool style." --Publishers Weekly