Much like the powerful images of Tuskegee airmen in full regalia sidled next to their planes during World War II, the image of Shoshana Johnson being escorted to safety after her captivity in Iraq is indelibly imprinted in the minds of television viewers across the world.

It was especially poignant for African Americans, who saw it as a fleeting moment of vindication for a time when blacks in the military were not acknowledged for their service.

Now, years later, Johnson, a former U.S. Army cook has helped change history again for blacks in the military. She was thrust into the spotlight when, in the early days of the Iraq War, she was shot in both ankles as her convoy of mechanics, cooks and disabled vehicles wandered into the city of Nasiriyah, Johnson writes in her newly released memoir, 'I'm Still Standing: From Captive U. S. Soldier to Free Citizen--My Journey Home.'

The wandering convoy touched off a bloody battle that left 11 U.S. soldiers dead and six abducted and held as prisoners of war, including Johnson and her friend, Jessica Lynch, she writes in the gripping memoir released just in time for Black History Month.

In life, Michael Jackson's aura was as colorful and enigmatic as climate change. He was a tsunami of creativity that has yet to be matched by any other artist.

Unfortunately, he did not know how much he was appreciated when he was alive because, well, he was extraordinarily eccentric and reclusive. And he was dogged by charges of child molestation, some of which he stood trial for and was cleared. There also were relentless rumors of drug abuse and homosexuality. As a result, he was relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi by the likes unseen since Lady Diana. Tabloid headlines were merciless, dubbing him "Wacko Jacko.''

Now, in death his life and accomplishments are celebrated in a new book, 'Michael Jackson: A Life In Pictures,' edited by Yann-Brice Dherbier and Candace Bal.

Set against the backdrop of the idyllic Tawawa House resort in the free state of Ohio, new author Dolen Perkins-Valdez spins a sonorous narrative about the brutal complexities of life and the immorality of slavery leading up to the Civil War in 'Wench.'

The story unfolds through the eyes of Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet, whose friendships develop during their summer visits to Tawawa. But things take a dramatic turn when a stranger enters the scene and challenges their very beliefs.

Any woman who has been run up on by a cheatah will appreciate the hysterically funny new novel the 'M.O.O.D. Lounge: Come As You Are...Come All You Want' by Zondra Hughes, editor of N'Digo, Chicago's largest African American alternative weekly.

The first of a three-part series, the M.O.O.D. Lounge, weaves the tale of three emotionally traumatized women: Eva James, an entertainment publicist, Fawn LaFollette, a porn star, and Drusilla "Dru" Vidal, a prosecutor, whose men subdue them into submission with steamy sex while cheating on them and spending their hard-earned cash on other women.

While the historic election of President Barack Obama ushered in an era of change in geopolitics, it also generated a seismic shift in the talk about racial politics at home and abroad.

What Obama's election did not signify, though, was the arrival of a 'post-racial' America, according to author and journalist Ytasha L. Womack. Instead, it resulted in what she calls "post-black America.''

In her new book, 'Post Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity,' Womack explores the concept via socioeconomic and cultural trends, using diversity as the mechanism for change. She unpacks the ideas through the voices of young professionals, gays and lesbians, and African and Caribbean immigrants, who represent an emerging and complex African American community.

In her alternately plaintive and scathing memoir, actress Janet Hubert, known as Vivian Banks on the popular 90's sitcom 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' strikes back at former colleagues whom she says denigrated her name and hurt her career.

In 'Perfection Is Not A Sitcom Mom,' Hubert addresses her departure from the show in 1993 and the toll it took on her personal and emotional life. She talks exclusively to BV on Books about what motivated her to write the book and what she's up to today:

Black Voices: What motivated you to write your memoir?
Janet Hubert: I decided to publish my memoir because I saw this YouTube rant that Alfonso Ribeiro [Carlton] had done about me. He said I was crazy and that I was fired and that I was out of my mind. No one ever defends black women, so I had to do it myself. I wrote it for clarity, to clear my clear my name. I got tired of answering questions about why I left. I answer every single question. In the book, I also talk about how words can kill. You don't take someone's life and just step on it, and you don't take my family's name and destroy it.