Proud: The Story of James Brown

Gr 6–9—Lankford presents Brown's life from his 1933 birth in a South Carolina shack, through a tumultuous career, to his death in 2006. He examines his subject's influence on the evolution of popular music, from gospel to R & B, rock to soul and funk. Still relevant today, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business's 78 albums form "the bedrock of hip-hop" and are sampled extensively by rappers. Mostly black-and-white photos capture Brown's larger-than-life personality at various stages of his career. The writing is clear with good background and detailed descriptions of the cultural context in which Brown performed. But it's hard to appreciate a sentence like "Disco stayed on the surface of the groove, while funk dug into the groove" without listening to a recording. The bibliography includes websites for articles, album reviews, and a discography, but no videos, though readers will easily find archived performances on YouTube with a simple search. Music lovers will see beyond James Brown, flashy performer, to the innovator and musical trailblazer who continues to inspire popular entertainers today.—Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL