Listen free for 30 days

Force of Beauty
A Newark Family Memoir
Written by: Mikki Taylor, Deborah Riley Draper
Narrated by: Mikki Taylor
Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to Cart failed.

Please try again later

Add to Wish List failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wish list failed.

Please try again later

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Try for $0.00

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.

Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.

Access exclusive sales and deals.

Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Force of Beauty

Name: Force of Beauty
Brand: Audible Originals
SKU: OR_ORIG_001346CA
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)

Written by: Mikki Taylor, Deborah Riley Draper

Narrated by: Mikki Taylor

Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $18.73

No default payment method selected.

Add payment method

Switch payment method

We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method

Switch payment method

Pay using card ending in

Switch payment method

By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

My family. My Newark.

The story of three generations of Black women, one extraordinary friendship, and a not-often recalled history of the city that made them.

In Force of Beauty, Mikki Taylor, editor-at-large of Essence magazine and longtime activist, introduces us to her gifted grandmother, Bessie, her glamorous mother, Modina, and how Modina’s friendship with the legendary Sarah Vaughan shaped Mikki’s childhood. Taylor’s mini-memoir is a tribute to Newark in the '50s and '60s, of cool jazz clubs and close-knit neighborhoods, a handsome house on Avon Avenue, and one family’s tale of perseverance and ingenuity in a city they all loved.

At a time when Black women were marginalized, disrespected, overlooked, and unseen, Bessie and Modina showed Mikki how beauty and style can be a force for good.

The recording includes an introduction by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and a reading by Mayor Baraka of the poem his father, the esteemed Amiri Baraka, wrote about the Newark rebellion, which Taylor discusses living through as a young girl.