Microsoft’s associate general counsel shares a story that is “as nuanced as it is hopeful” (Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader) about his rise from childhood poverty in pre-gentrified New York City to a stellar career at the top of the technology and music industries in this stirring true story of grit and perseverance. For fans of Indra Nooyi’s My Life in Full and Viola Davis’s Finding Me.As an accomplished Microsoft executive, Bruce Jackson ...

Fascinating conversations with a leading twentieth century literary critic, author, and cultural gadfly.Author and gadfly Leslie Fiedler was one of the best-known names in twentieth-century literary criticism. He promoted postwar American literature to a large, general audience. He was particularly beloved as a professor at the University at Buffalo, where he spent the last three decades of his life teaching and helping establish its English Department as one of th...

Celebrates over a half-century of the work of one of America's greatest folklorists.Folklore Matters gathers over a half-century of articles, memoirs, field studies, and more by master folklorist Bruce Jackson. Jackson's wide-ranging view of what makes up folklore, his affection for his subjects, and his keen-eyed ability to observe and record without prejudice stories, songs, and lore from everyone from death-row inmates to numbers runners, hustlers, and ...

A searing, personal look at conditions on Texas's Death Row—told in the words of the prisoners themselves.Voices from Death Row is considered a classic work on the strange "living limbo" inhabited by condemned men in Texas, who await resolution of their sentence in execution, death by other causes, commutation to a term of life sentence, or exoneration. This book offers first-person accounts of life on death row that still holds for condemned men and women...

A visual and narrative memoir of a lifetime's encounters with 112 trendsetters, musicians, politicians, writers, and ordinary people by a noted folklorist-photographer.Honorable Mention, for the 2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Photography CategoryRocker Rod Stewart, Jackson says, had it wrong when he titled his breakthrough album Every Picture Tells a Story. Pictures don...

What is universal reality? Is this world interested in a realistic vision of what life is like beyond death?Is our world curious about how an understanding of a realistic presentation of heaven might impact our lives in this age of alternative truth, unreality, entrenched self-interest, and systemic racism?Would individuals be interested in a narrative about our universe that is neither a Star Wars fantasy nor a fiction perpetrated by religionists with a social/religious ag...

Delves into the meaning of stories, their tellers, and those who experience them.In The Story Is True, folklorist, filmmaker, and professor of English Bruce Jackson explores the ways we use the stories that become a central part of our public and private lives. Describing and explaining how stories are made and used, Jackson examines how stories narrate and bring meaning to our lives. Jackson writes about his family and friends, acquaintances, and experien...

A Lonesome Long Sit is a soulful, freeform collection of poetic reflections that explores the quiet, often overlooked moments of life-unemployment, aging, lost dreams, loyal pets, and the ache of solitude. With dry wit, honest emotion, and a jazz-like rhythm, the author invites readers into a deeply personal space where silence speaks volumes and small details carry great meaning. From meditations on broken chairs and missed lottery tickets to tender goodbyes and stubborn hope,...

Microsoft’s associate general counsel shares a story that is “as nuanced as it is hopeful” (Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader) about his rise from childhood poverty in pre-gentrified New York City to a stellar career at the top of the technology and music industries in this stirring true story of grit and perseverance. For fans of Indra Nooyi’s My Life in Full and Viola Davis’s Finding Me.As an accomplished Microsoft executive, Bruce Jackson ...

The classic work on African American toasts, the predecessor of rap.Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me celebrates the African American oral tradition of toasting, one of the key roots of contemporary rap. Jackson was among the few to appreciate the profane energy and beauty of this rhymed form, collecting such classic toasts as "Stackolee," "The Titanic," "Signifying Monkey," "Dance of the Freaks," and dozens more. This unexpurgated edition offers ...

What happens when memory won't let go, your body betrays you, and your dogs understand you better than most humans? You write. You rage. You laugh. You love. You drive on empty.With raw honesty, dry wit, and an eye for the sacred in the mundane, Bruce Jackson turns everyday living into a lyrical journey through aging, regret, resilience, and unexpected joy. Driving on Empty is a collection of unfiltered reflections-poetry that sounds like conversation, prayers disguised as jokes, a...

An Anthology of Early Spiritual Ruminations was compiled from Volumes I & II into Volume XVIII in the Spring of 2026. This volume contains my first poetic efforts where I embraced our Father God, found a Jesus who I could follow without reservation, and experienced a real connection with the Spirit within and without. These works are not religious (reflecting the institutional beliefs of a church), but are spiritual explorations into eternal ascendant living. Though I have served ...