Crazy as Hell The Best Little Guide to Black History

By turns hilarious, candid, and heartbreaking, this powerful book takes the straitjacket off Black history.

A refreshing, insightful, sacrilegious take on African American history, Crazy as Hell explores the site of America’s greatest contradictions. The notables of this book are the runaways and the rebels, the badass and funky, the activists and the inmates―from Harriet Tubman, Nina Simone, and Muhammad Ali to B’rer Rabbit, Single Mamas, and Wakandans―but are they crazy as hell, or do they simply defy the expectations designated for being Black in America?

With humor and insight, scholars and writers V. Efua Prince and Hoke S. Glover III (Bro. Yao) offer brief breakdowns of one hundred influential, archetypal, and infamous figures, building a new framework that emphasizes their humanity. Including an introduction by MacArthur Fellow Reginald Dwayne Betts and peppered with little-known historical facts and PSAs that get real about the Black experience, Crazy as Hell captures the tenacious, irreverent spirit that accompanies a long struggle for freedom.

Hoke S. Glover III (Bro. Yao) is a poet, nonfiction writer, and the chair of the department of language, literature, and cultural studies at Bowie State University.

V. Efua Prince is a playwright, nonfiction writer, and professor of African American studies at Wayne State University.

Reginald Dwayne Betts is the author of three books of poetry, including the best-selling Felon. He is a poet, lawyer, and the founder and CEO of Freedom Reads. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his dog.