May's Not Fiction Book Discussions

Kill 'Em And Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul by James McBride explores how the American South and the music industry shaped James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, and how Brown, a one-of-a-kind musician, performer, and self-made man, shaped American culture.

McBride, author of the modern classic memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, and an accomplished musician, hit the road to follow up on a lead that promised to reveal James Brown the man who had been hidden for all these years behind James Brown the myth. With a writing style and attitude reminiscent of tall tales and the funk music Brown helped to create, McBride follows this lead to disparate corners of American history and culture, exploring tensions between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. He says "Brown was a child of a country in hiding: America's South. . . . You cannot understand Brown without understanding that the land that produced him is a land of masks."

What do you think? Who was James Brown? How did his childhood in rural South Carolina help to shape the person he became--his music, his work ethic, his relationships? How did his experiences out in the larger cultural landscape of midcentury America continue his evolution--or, arguably, devolution? And how did Brown shape American culture, musically, politically, and otherwise? In the spirit of the tall tale, McBride incorporates his own experiences with Brown and his myth, from his own childhood in Queens to his career as a writer, musician, and mentor to inner city youth. How did McBride's experiences also help you to understand Brown and American culture?

Remind yourself of James Brown's magnetic charisma, knock-out musical and dancing talent, and tremendous work ethic at the YouTube Official James Brown Channel!

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, May 2, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, May 18, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.