SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS: WRITINGS ON INTERRACIAL...

new book -- SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS: WRITINGS ON INTERRACIAL
FRIENDSHIPS will be released on August 3 from
Amistad/HarperCollins. The book is an illuminating collection of
writings on the complex and rich topic of interracial friendships. The
collection goes beyond the typical black-white paradigm and includes
portrayals of friendships between blacks and Asians, Latinos and
whites, and blacks and Jews. In SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS you will meet
a young Italian American heading off to college--the first in his
family to do so--where he rooms with and befriends a sophisticated
young black man from a highly educated, socially prominent Washington,
D.C. family. Meet a second-generation Korean American "from the 'hood"
who is more comfortable with Latinos and blacks than with Korean kids
with whom he grew up in the suburbs. Meet a black writer reflecting on
a twenty-year friendship with a Jewish man he's known since childhood
and with whom he can talk about anything--except perhaps the politics
of the Middle East. SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS takes a hard look at
friendships across color and culture barriers, and celebrates them,
too. Contributors include: Elizabeth Alexander, Bill Ayers, Maurice
Berger, Michelle Cliff, Trey Ellis, John Gennari, Sandra Guzman, Suheir
Hammad, Pam Houston, Jee Kim, David Mura, Darryl Pinckney, Luis
Rodriguez, Somini Sengupta, and Susan Straight.