Civil rights leader Malik Martin was regarded as the middle ground between Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. His organization, the Nation, was about to launch its new program of financial empowerment when he was assassinated. His wife, former movie sex goddess Victoria Thorn, was at his side when he was killed. She suffered a breakdown and was hospitalized for more than twenty years. Now released, she is trying to find her lost daughter. Her lawyer hires Nina Halligan for the job.Halligan, a former prosecutor whose family was massacred by the minions of a drug lord she put in prison, is a private investigator. As she starts digging into this case, she stumbles onto a group of black nationalists called the New Nation, who are reclaiming African art and repatriating it to the Motherland. In addition, a conservative black evangelist, who is setting up church franchises derisively called "McChurches," kidnaps Nina to find out what she knows. She's also butting heads with the NYPD, which may have been involved in the death of Malik Martin. After two failed attempts on her life, and several dead bodies, Nina knows this is more than just a missing-persons case.

Black Heat: A Nina Halligan Mystery

Literature & Fiction

Kelley, Norman

United States

Amistad-HarperCollins

Private investigator Nina Halligan is kidnapped when she begins digging into the case of Malik Martin, a murdered African-American leader, and uncovers a group of black nationalists called The Nation. Reprint.

Black Heat: A Nina Halligan Novel

AVON.

The Katanga is rooted in Africa during the 1960s independence period and the ultimate failure of an attempt for an alternative to colonialism or despotism. It's failure is a sad commentary on international political leadership. Many historians look back on this unique approach as a last ditch attempt to prove that a white/black democracy might be successful. In The Katanga, two young and naïve but very skilled American mercenaries enter the arena and quickly grow into seriously respected strategists as the political and military roles begin to merge. They become equipped with advanced long range rifles and distance measuring devices and make a huge contribution in quieting down native tribes taking advantage of the political vacuum as well as stifling some cold war meddlers. During integration into The Katanga society, they find their future wives and hope that they too could be a part of The Katanga's future. But it was all for nil, as world opinion and racial politics defeated the effort in favor of defending national boundaries that date back to the 1880s as a part of colonial rule. For our Americans, the exit is both dangerous and very fragile, but ultimately successful. The Katanga generally follows events of the era including the death of the U.N. Secretary General in a plane crash, an event still being investigated. Some need to be reminded that The Katanga is a novel!

The Katanga: American Mercenaries in the African Congo

Action & Adventure

Outskirts Press

<p>Al Sharpton's entrance into the 2004 Democratic presidential race is evidence of a decaying black political culture where ego trumps politics. It is the last gasp of a tradition that has been transformed over a generation from bold, effective and results-oriented politics to rhetoric and symbolism, argues crime writer and social commentator Norman Kelley. As Kelley shows, what Sharpton covets is the sobriquet—The Head Negro in Charge (HNIC), a symbolic political mobilization that replaces effective politics and organizing. "The HNIC syndrome has seen the rise of symbolic leaders—Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Sharpton and now Russell Simmons—who may be charismatic," Kelley writes, "but are politically unaccountable to the very people they claim to represent, namely African Americans. The transformation has been underway since the 1970s, but most African Americans have yet to confront it." HNIC syndrome is both a symptom and response to the failings of black political and cultural orthodoxy, of a sclerotic black elite represented by the NAACP and the Black Congressional Caucus, who have embedded themselves into the machinery of the Democratic Party and the conservative movement.</p>

The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics (Nation Books)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Nation Books

The Mexico Incident: Including an Africa to Mexico Prologue

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

BLACK HEAT is Norman Kelley's novelistic exploration of the turbulent legacy of the 1960s black liberation movement-its continuance in a watered-down post-nationalist Afrocentrism, its perversion in the media-driven, get-rich schemes of the black bourgeoisie. Caught in the crossfire is the intrepid and resourceful Nina Halligan-formerly a Brooklyn assistant district attorney, now a private investigator-who searches for the missing daughter of a slain civil-rights leader while grappling with her own rage concerning the murder of her family. "Kelley pushes a heavy thumb on hot-button issues of black politics: Afrocentrism; the appeal of televangelism; what it means to be authentically black; FBI dirty tricks against civil-rights leaders"-Publishers Weekly.

Black Heat

Cool Grove Press

R & B: Rhythm and Business: The Political Economy of Black Music

Humor & Entertainment

Akashic Books

<p>Fiction. African American Studies. A hit on a notorious hip-hop star plunges Nina into the vortex of a violent power struggle to control a valuable commodity in the recording industry, namely black music. Nina takes the music industry by storm-no music mogul or sinister rap star is left standing. "Want a scathing social and political satire? Look no further than Norman Kelley's second effort featuring 'bad girl' African-American PI and part-time intellectual Nina Halligan-it's a romp of a read."-Publishers Weekly.</p>

A Phat Death: Or, The Last Days of Noir Soul (Nina Halligan)

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