A prize-winning poetry collection that delves into the dark wood of the digital underworld: "Impressive . . . thought-provoking." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)What is the deep web? A locked door. A tool for oppression and for revolution. "An emptying drain, driven by gravity." And in Patrick Johnson's Gatekeeper—selected by Khaled Mattawa as the winner of the 2019 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry—it is the place where connection is darkly tran...

Performance artist and scholar E. Patrick Johnson’s provocative study examines how blackness is appropriated and performed—toward widely divergent ends—both within and outside African American culture. Appropriating Blackness develops from the contention that blackness in the United States is necessarily a politicized identity—avowed and disavowed, attractive and repellent, fixed and malleable. Drawing on performance theory, queer studies, literary analysis, film criticism, and et...

From the first drumbeat of formation to the final echoes of surrender, the 20th Georgia Volunteer Infantry marches through fire, fear, and brotherhood. "Echoes of the Twentieth" follows ordinary men as they face extraordinary trials — from the chaos of first contact to the moments when courage and loss redefine them. Through blood, mud, and memory, they discover that the real battle is not just for victory, but for each other.

Reviving Ezra is a fictional novel that challenges American believers, educates Western believers, and admonishes the entire body of Christ about what many members of the body of Christ face throughout the world in relation to persecution, martyrdom, and oppression. It not only highlights the plight of persecuted people, but it is also rich in true worship. The novel takes readers through the cost of revival and what is needed to revive a community, a state, and a nation. In this novel, Ez...

Cornucopia explores the health and economic implications of U.S. farm policy. Using a corn farm in rural South Dakota as his starting point, Johnson reviews the history of agricultural policies in America to understand how large-scale, industrial agriculture came to play such a large role in U.S. and world food production. He also discusses the role of agricultural policies in the on-going "food for fuel" debate, as well as the linkages between agricultural outputs and health outc...

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, Sweet Tea collects more than sixty life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as “backward” or “repressive” and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners — often in spaces and activities that appear to be antigay. Ultimately, S...

The follow-up to the groundbreaking Black Queer Studies, the edited collection No Tea, No Shade brings together nineteen essays from the next generation of scholars, activists, and community leaders doing work on black gender and sexuality. Building on the foundations laid by the earlier volume, this collection's contributors speak new truths about the black queer experience while exemplifying the codification of black queer studies as a rigorous and important field of st...

THIRTY-NINE SIXTY - A ROMANTICCHRISTMAS THRILLEROn a frigid December day, sixty-six hours before Christmas, Aedan O'Beirne's wife, Ciara, and their five-year-old son, Colin, disappear. Aedan discovers that he has until the first second of Christmas Day to find them, or he will lose his family forever.Set in Chicagoland, this absorbing and suspenseful tale launches readers into Aedan's surprise-filled world, ...

The late Dwight Conquergood’s research has inspired an entire generation of scholars invested in performance as a meaningful paradigm to understand human interaction, especially between structures of power and the disenfranchised. Conquergood’s research laid the groundwork for others to engage issues of ethics in ethnographic research, performance as a meaningful paradigm for ethnography, and case studies that demonstrated the dissolution of theory/practice binaries.Cultural Struggles

Thomas Johnson's latest novel launches a gripping two-book dystopian saga: Escape from Apidae.Apidae is a perfect world. This hive society has been engineered with precision and populated by carefully designed citizens known as hive units. Every aspect of life is regulated: ideal health, flawless physiques, uniform appearances, standardized heights, and controlled intellects. Apidae stands for humanity's vision of ultimate superiority....

Thomas Johnson's latest novel launches a gripping two-book dystopian saga: Escape from Apidae.Apidae is a perfect world. This hive society has been engineered with precision and is populated by carefully designed citizens known as hive units**. Every aspect of life is regulated: ideal health, flawless physiques, uniform appearances, standardized heights, and controlled intellects. Apidae stands for humanity's vision of ...

Staging an important new conversation between performers and critics, Blacktino Queer Performance approaches the interrelations of blackness and Latinidad through a stimulating mix of theory and art. The collection contains nine performance scripts by established and emerging black and Latina/o queer playwrights and performance artists, each accompanied by an interview and critical essay conducted or written by leading scholars of black, Latina/o, and queer expressive practices. A...