Finding books from various perspectives

[damned_colonial]

Anyone got tips for finding books from a range of perspectives? Many of the books we've been suggesting so far are by dead white guys (and dead white women). I'd be interested in any tips/ideas/thoughts people have on how to find books from other viewpoints.

rydra_wong suggested the following in comments elsewhere, for finding historical books by people of colour:

http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc/tag/historical
http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc/58797.html?thread=161965#t161965

Comments

[al_zorra]

And there is that historical novel about the Haitian Revolution, an African Prince and French officer by Victor Hugo, Bug-Jargal, if you want to deal with really old dead white men!

Love, C.

[al_zorra]

I put in a bunch of suggestions in the Africa theme -- many of them by Africans, or as in Maryse Condé's case, she was born in Guadeloupe, but she did live in Africa for a while and wrote some wonderful historical and non-historicals from that experience. Her Segu is particularly wonderful.

Another one is The African, which isn't written by an African (though like Dr. Robert Farris Thompson) Courlander was considered brother by Africans and black caribbeanists -- this is the novel Alex Haley plagerized from for his first section of Roots, and so did Frank Yerby, for his The Dahomeyan -- and both they and Courlander were wrong about Yoruba in North America.

These are the people who began the work that finally put African, and New World diaspora African culture and religon into the discourse as Art and expression of the highest respect.

Love, C.

Love, C.