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Wit and Wisdom From Black Barber Shops
Doubleday
May 2005
192 pages ISBN: 0385511647 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Historical
In Crowns and The Spirit of Harlem, journalist Craig
Marberry took oral history to a new level. Here, in Cuttin’
Up, he presents more pitch-perfect portraits so good you’ll
feel like you’re eavesdropping. Cuttin’ Up celebrates the
laid-back fellowship of men in a barber shop, the place, as
Marberry writes, “where we go to be among ourselves, to be
ourselves, to unmask.” Crisscrossing the country from Detroit to Orlando, Brooklyn
to Houston, Marberry listened in on conversations that
covered everything from reminiscences about the first
haircut---a sometimes comic rite of passage---to spirited
exchanges about women, to serious lessons in black history
and current events. His collection of the wit and wisdom of
patrons and barbers---including the small but scrappy
subset of women barbers and the father of a very famous
celebrity---brings together an irresistible and often
touching chorus of voices. Marberry has created a book that sings with the handsome
beauty of the oral tradition that is the cornerstone of the
black barber shop experience. A portion of the proceeds from this book support the Maya
Angelou Research Center on Minority Health at Wake Forest
University.
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