Sag Harbor
– Written by Colson Whitehea

In his new novel “Sag Harbor,” the highly acclaimed author (a Pulitzer finalist, among other awards) Colson Whitehead highlights the new face of literature. Whitehead infuses this coming-of-age tale – about an upper middle-class African-American boy whose family visits the Long Island black-professional enclave of Sag Harbor each summer – with the depth and nuance of great literature.
Benji Cooper is a student at one of New York City’s elite private schools. He deftly negotiates, though not without missteps, the black and white worlds that mark his natural habitats. He juxtaposes The Book of Lists with Nat King Cole, Gladys Knight with the terrors of bad riptide days at the beach.

His riffs on status sneakers, television (Land of the Lost, Roots etc.), frozen food and summer jobs are hilarious, while his quick hits on New York City private schools are just as likely to leave one pensive, or curious, if that is an unfamiliar milieu. Best of all Mr. Whitehead opens a door to a heretofore truncated dialogue about race and gender that, despite the triumph for us all of a new black president, remains urgently in need of voices.
Doubleday, 2009, $24.95, 273 pages

The Thin Black Line
– Written by Hugh Holton

Upon his return from Vietnam in the late 1960s, Mr. Holton joined the Chicago Police Department. Over 30 years he attained the rank of Commander and paved the way for many other minority law officers. He also became a respected mystery writer whose works were well known for many years before his 2008 death.

Here, some thirty men and women tell harrowing and poignant stories, some with specific racial overtones, of their years in police departments all over America. Though rarely welcomed with open arms, they survived and often thrived.

These stories illuminate the explosion of the market for illegal drugs and the horrific violence that resulted, from murders to domestic violence. We also get inside glimpses of the Black Panthers and the violent and tragic denouement of the MOVE fiasco in Philadelphia, which also highlights the costly missteps of the city government in that celebrated case. “The Thin Black Line” opens the door to Holton’s other work such as “The Left Hand of God” and his final novel, “Windy City.”

Forge, 2009, $25.95, 318 pages

I’d Rather We Got Casinos: and Other Black Thoughts
– Written by Larry Wilmore

Larry Wilmore has gained renown recently from television’s “The Daily Show,” but he has been around for a long time. Over 30 years he has written for everything from “In Living Color” to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” This book is a light-hearted romp that should not necessarily be read straight through; think of it as a box of rich bon-bons that are best eaten in measured doses.

In this often hysterical pastiche, Mr. Wilmore takes on such diverse sacred cows as the NAACP, “The Jeffersons,” and black weathermen. He also uses his enormous creativity in some truly killer celebrity spoofs. Did you know that Ving Rhames was really named Irving?

Hyperion, $23.99, 224 pages