Cuttin' Up: Wit and Wisdom From Black Barber Shops

In Crowns and The Spirit of Harlem, journalist Craig Marberry took oral history to a new level. Here, in Cuttin' Up, he presents more pitch-perfect portraits so good you'll feel like you're eavesdropping. Cuttin' Up celebrates the laid-back fellowship of men in a barber shop, the place, as Marberry writes, "where we go to be among ourselves, to be ourselves, to unmask." . Crisscrossing the country from Detroit to Orlando, Brooklyn to Houston, Marberry listened in on conversations that covered everything from reminiscences about the first haircut---a sometimes comic rite of passage---to spirited exchanges about women, to serious lessons in black history and current events. His collection of the wit and wisdom of patrons and barbers---including the small but scrappy subset of women barbers and the father of a very famous celebrity---brings together an irresistible and often touching chorus of voices. . Marberry has created a book that sings with the handsome beauty of the oral tradition that is the cornerstone of the black barber shop experience.. A portion of the proceeds from this book support the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health at Wake Forest University.