Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano)\n“Sparkling . . . the overdue singing of a Black girl’s song, with perfect pitch . . . delicious to read.”—Oprah Daily\nONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly\nA weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith’s intimate history of Black women’s music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to “Midnight Train to Georgia” on the family stereo.\nSmith’s detailed narrative begins with Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman who sang her poems, and continues through the stories of Mahalia Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, and Mariah Carey, as well as the under-considered careers of Marilyn McCoo, Deniece Williams, and Jody Watley.\nShine Bright is an overdue paean to musical masters whose true stories and genius have been hidden in plain sight—and the book Danyel Smith was born to write.

Biographies & Memoirs

Smith, Danyel

Arts & Literature

Roc Lit 101

American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano)\n“Sparkling . . . the overdue singing of a Black girl’s song, with perfect pitch . . . delicious to read.”—Oprah Daily\nONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, The Root, Variety, Esquire, The Guardian, Newsweek, Pitchfork, She Reads, Publishers Weekly\nSHORTLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD\nA weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith’s intimate history of Black women’s music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to “Midnight Train to Georgia” on the family stereo.\nSmith’s detailed narrative begins with Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman who sang her poems, and continues through the stories of Mahalia Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, and Mariah Carey, as well as the under-considered careers of Marilyn McCoo, Deniece Williams, and Jody Watley.\nShine Bright is an overdue paean to musical masters whose true stories and genius have been hidden in plain sight—and the book Danyel Smith was born to write.

More Like Wrestling unfolds through the compelling voices of two sisters, Pinch and Paige, coming of age in Oakland, California, at a time when the beautiful, crumbling city is being transformed by the dark temptations of its underworld. As they grow from girls to women the sisters are confronted with a series of surprising reversals—death, disaster, and, maybe, love—that forces them to come to grips with the truth about their choices and their tangled roots. “Lyrical and engaging . . . Smith’s light, sinewy prose sings with precision.” —Washington Post Bookworld “A wildly intelligent coming-of-age story [and] a morally complex take on the devastating costs of poverty and racism—a tale that deals in hard truths and, ultimately, forgiveness.”—Elle “Smith’s supple language and the generosity she shows toward her own imagination and memory allows something new and real to emerge—a grittier, muckier story, full of the uncertainty of life.” —Africana

More Like Wrestling: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

United States

Three Rivers Press

At a glossy gathering on Paradise Island, record exec Eva Glenn—soulful, sexy, powerful, and perhaps pregnant—is hosting a comeback showcase for singing sensation Sunny Addison, a barefoot diva with a poet’s heart and the voice of a lion. At the event’s high-strung peak, however, Eva begins to sink beneath the waves of anxiety washing over her—anxiety over a confusing sexual triangle, a career at a crossroads, and choices to be made about her possible pregnancy—and decides, in a blink, to flee. She leaves Paradise for the petite, pastoral island of Cat, accompanied by her sometime-lover D’Artagnan Addison, an earnestly crazy mystic looking for answers of his own. What begins as an idyllic break quickly turns into an intense sojourn that brings Eva to terms with the crises closing in on her.Bliss is a novel about the real rhythm and blues of life, about pain and loss and why we hold tight, in the end, to the sex and music and love that offer us a fleeting glimpse of bliss, even when the price is steep.

Bliss: A Novel

It's a local legend sitting just feet above the waters of Puget Sound on Seattle's Shilshole Bay. The view is outstanding, the Café bustling and audacious, and the restaurant elegant with a down home attitude. Simply put, it’s one of the best cold-water seafood restaurants in the world, and the locals call it Ray’s. 
Ray’s Boathouse: Seafood Secrets from the Pacific Northwest includes everything from appetizers featured in Ray’s Café, like the Seafood Margarita, to tips for buying and cooking perfect salmon. With an introduction by international food writer Ken Gouldthorpe, it contains over 100 recipes for preparing and serving Ray’s best cuisine at home, all triple-tested by Executive Chef Charles Ramseyer and the Ray’s staff. A visual knockout with stunning food photography by Angie Norwood Browne, this highly anticipated cookbook offers an inspiring collection of recipes for cooks who love seafood.

Ray's Boathouse: Seafood Secrets of the Pacific Northwest

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Gouldthorpe, Ken

Cooking by Ingredient

Documentary Media LLC

Danyel Smith is one of the most acclaimed music journalists of her generation, a prose stylist who “writes with music in her language” (Quincy Jones). In Bliss, a thrillingly sensual tale drenched with love and music, Smith dives deep into an intriguing set of characters facing life-changing choices in the swirl of the music industry at its decadent peak. At a glossy gathering on Paradise Island, record exec Eva Glenn—soulful, sexy, powerful, and possibly pregnant—is hosting a comeback showcase for her singing sensation Sunny Addison, a barefoot diva with a poet’s heart and the voice of a lion. At the event’s high-strung peak, however, Eva begins to sink beneath the waves of anxiety washing over her—anxiety about a confusing sexual triangle, a career at a crossroads, and choices to be made about her possible pregnancy—and decides, in a blink, to flee. She leaves Paradise for the petite, pastoral island of Cat, accompanied by her sometime-lover D’Artagnan Addison, an earnestly crazy mystic looking for answers of his own. What begins as an idyllic break quickly turns into an intense sojourn that brings Eva to terms with the crises closing in on her. Smith casts a wittily skeptical eye on the absurd drama of the music industry, but infuses every page with an infectious, bracing, unashamed passion for the power of pop. Her language matches the spirit of the music she writes about, echoing everything from throaty blues shouts and hip hop menace to the transcendent joy of a perfect R &amp; B love song. This is a novel about the real rhythm and blues of life, about pain and loss and why we hold tight, in the end, to the sex and music and love that offer us a fleeting glimpse of bliss, even when the price is steep.

Crown

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing . . . More Like Wrestling is the magnificent debut novel by one of the most acclaimed music journalists of her generation. It tells the story of Pinch and Paige, two sisters coming of age in Oakland, California, in the 1980s, a time when that beautiful, crumbling city is being transformed by tectonic shifts, both literal and figurative. The novel unfolds through the alternating narration of the two sisters: Pinch, quiet and observant, and Paige, louder and wilder but faltering under her facade. The sisters are teenage refugees from a violent home, living alone in a faded Victorian mansion where they survive by creating a closed world centered around each other and their new friends—a rowdy makeshift family of castoffs, dealers, and drama queens on the periphery of the burgeoning drug game, some looking for a way out, some looking for a way deeper in. As the sisters grow from girls into women, they are confronted with a series of surprising reversals—death, imprisonment, and, just maybe, love—that force them to come to grips with the truth about their choices, their friends, and their tangled roots. More Like Wrestling takes readers into fresh and surprising terrain, bringing a complex set of characters to vivid life with bracing honesty and sophistication. With a journalist’s eye for detail and a poet’s ear for language, Danyel Smith has written an unforgettable tale about memory, forgiveness, and love in a world built on fault lines.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Danyel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Smith, Danyel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Danyel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

More Like Wrestling: A Novel

Bliss: A Novel

Ray's Boathouse: Seafood Secrets of the Pacific Northwest

Bliss: A Novel

More Like Wrestling: A Novel