New Release Books by Blair Underwood

In this “must-read for anyone concerned with race, sports, and politics in America” (William C. Rhoden, New York Times bestselling author), the inspirational and largely unknown true story of the eighteen African American athletes who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, defying the racism of both Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. Set against the turbulent backdrop of a segregated United States, sixteen Black men and two Black women are torn between boycotting the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany or participating. If they go, they would represent a country that considered them second-class citizens and would compete amid a strong undercurrent of Aryan superiority that considered them inferior. Yet, if they stayed, would they ever have a chance to prove them wrong on a global stage? Five athletes, full of discipline and heart, guide you through this harrowing and inspiring journey. There’s a young and feisty Tidye Pickett from Chicago, whose lithe speed makes her the first African American woman to compete in the Olympic Games; a quiet Louise Stokes from Malden, Massachusetts, who breaks records across the Northeast with humble beginnings training on railroad tracks. We find Mack Robinson in Pasadena, California, setting an example for his younger brother, Jackie Robinson; and the unlikely competitor Archie Williams, a lanky book-smart teen in Oakland takes home a gold medal. Then there’s Ralph Metcalfe, born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, who becomes the wise and fierce big brother of the group. From burning crosses set on the Robinsons’s lawn to a Pennsylvania small town on fire with praise and parades when the athletes return from Berlin, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice has “done the world a favor by bringing into the sunlight the unknown story of eighteen black Olympians who should never be forgotten. This book is both beautiful and wrenching, and essential to understanding the rich history of African American athletes” (Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief of ESPN’s The Undefeated).

NAACP Image Award–winning actor Blair Underwood collects the best of the profound words of America’s children—including his own—in this touching collection perfect for sharing with loved ones. Blair Underwood, known to millions as a star of television and film, has delivered brilliant performances in Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker and as the voice of Makuu in Disney Channel’s The Lion Guard, among others. But his proudest accomplishment is being a loving husband and father of three children who keep him in touch with the true meaning of life—not fame, but family. When Blair Underwood’s young son told him the dream he had about “the last night before there are no more mornings and no more nights,” Underwood asked him, “Who told you that?” His son replied, “God told me when he made me, but I only had one ear at the time, so I could only hear a little.” Through conversations with family and friends, Underwood discovered how very often people have children who say things that have “left them with their jaws on the floor.” As a consequence, he and Donyell Kennedy-McCullough created a website as a destination for others to share their profound moments with children. The response from people all over the world was tremendous and led to the creation of Before I Got Here, a collection of the best of the conversations and stories from people’s responses, revealing just how brilliant and spiritually in tune our children can be. Before I Got Here makes you smile in the tradition of Kids Say the Darndest Things, and inspires—with the wonderful photographs of children taken by coauthor Donyell Kennedy-McCullough—is a wonderful gift for ourselves and others, showing the inherent wisdom that children possess, with the power to astound us and change our lives.

Actor and super-sleuth Tennyson Hardwick investigates when a prostitute is found murdered and connected to a South Miami serial killer, but the investigation comes close to home when Hardwick's family is threatened by the killer.

A dream team collaboration of award-winning Hollywood actor and author of Before I Got Here Blair Underwood and award-winning novelists—and married couple—Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes bring you three of their hot, action-packed novels. Casanegra Casanegra follows the adventures of Tennyson Hardwick, a gorgeous, sexy actor and former gigolo, living on the fringes of the good life in Hollywood. This story, which chronicles the redemption of a prodigal son, combines the glamour of Hollywood with the seedy hopelessness of the inner city. In the Night of the Heat Award-winning actor and author Blair Underwood joins forces with two amazing and award-winning authors Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes to deliver the second installation in the stunning and provocative Tennyson Hardwick novel In the Night of the Heat. From Cape Town with Love Actor-turned-detective Tennyson Hardwick has solved two high-profile deaths in Hollywood, but nothing has prepared him for a race to save a child’s life. This thrilling page-turner will have readers waiting with bated breath to discover what lies behind the secrecy and causes men and women to risk jail (or worse) to gain power and wealth—even if it means risking the life of an innocent child.

THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF CASANEGRA AND IN THE NIGHT OF THE HEAT TEAM UP FOR A THIRD TIME TO PRESENT FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE, A TENNYSON HARDWICK NOVEL. Actor-turned-detective Tennyson Hardwick has solved two high-profile deaths in Hollywood, but nothing has prepared him for a race to save a child’s life. Tennyson’s past in the sex game cost him his new girlfriend, and he brings her to Cape Town, South Africa—a scenic film destination and playground for the rich—to try to win her back. There Tennyson is hired as a bodyguard by superstar Sofia Maitlin when she visits an orphanage to adopt an African child. Months later, Maitlin offers Tennyson one of Hollywood’s hottest tickets—a job as a bodyguard at adopted daughter Nandi’s A-list celebrity birthday party. But the party is over before it begins. When Nandi’s birthday goes dreadfully wrong, it’s up to a guilt-ridden Tennyson to save a child’s life and reunite a Hollywood family. But how? He can’t go to the police, the FBI has threatened to arrest him, and Big Brother is monitoring his telephone calls. To find Nandi, Tennyson will have to rely on tips from his father—a retired LAPD captain—and a mysterious woman from his past, Marsha, who has already proven she can’t be trusted. His strongest lead is a deadly knife fighter known only as Spider. When his search for the missing child crosses Marsha’s covert investigation into a criminal gang with ties to South Africa, Tennyson knows that finding Nandi might cost him his freedom—or his life.

Hoping for a respite as his father slowly recovers from a stroke, Hollywood actor Tennyson Hardwick strives to land decent acting jobs and enjoys a relationship with his new girlfriend, circumstances that affect his perceptions about commitment and responsibility.

Struggling to hold on to his career while endeavoring to redeem a scandalous past that estranged him from his family, actor Tennyson Hardwick finds himself accused of murder in the aftermath of his strict LAPD captain father's stroke. Reprint.