African American novelist Frank Yerby has been celebrated by some and reviled by others.

Virtually unheard of today, Yerby sold more than 100 million copies of his books before his death in 1991. Four of his novels were made into Hollywood films — a major accomplishment for an African American at the time.

Historian Eugene Stovall believes the lack of a legacy for Yerby is partly traceable to influential African American contemporaries who labeled him “not black enough” because his books carried commercial appeal.

This group, which included literary icons Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, was also offended when Yerby left the American South to live in Spain, under the regime of Francisco Franco.

On your show, Stovall will:

• Finally reveal the true legacy of Yerby.

• Discuss why the advocates of the new world order fear Yerby’s books, which celebrate individual triumphs over social, political and economic forces.

• Compare Yerby’s success with that of prominent African Americans
today, including Oprah and Obama.

• Critique Yerby’s claim that he was freer in Franco’s Spain than in Augusta, Georgia, where he was once arrested for walking down the street with his extremely fair-skinned African American wife.

CREDENTIALS: Eugene Stovall received his Ph.D. in political theory from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of FRANK YERBY: A Victim’s Guilt (Regent Press), which received a 2007 Bronze Award from the Independent Publishers Book Awards. He is also the author of Blood and Brotherhood.

AVAILABILITY: Oakland, CA, nationwide by arrangement and via telephone
CONTACT: Eugene Stovall, (510) 530-7883 (CA); gene@eugenestovall.com; www.eugenestovall.com