Mama Black Widow
Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1969. First Printing. Small octavo. (18 cm.) 320 pp. Paperback original. Photo-illustrated titles in black on front and spine, with photo-image of author on verso. Publisher serial number #HH-176 above title and on spine indicating First Printing. Stray pen mark on spine, not affecting type. Minor edgewear to bottom corners. Slight embrowning to pages. Book neat, tight and unmarked. Overall Very Good. Item #62
"Adult Reading"
Alias, Robert Beck. Alias Robert Maupin. Pimp, hustler, writer. Street and pen name, Iceberg Slim. Writing grim, noirish tales about Black street life when he wasn't hustling or pimping women, Iceberg Slim has become a legend of the lowdown since his death in 1992. When he was too old to pimp, according to Beck himself, and encouraged by his wife, Beck committed himself to writing books about his experiences in the criminal underworld. Money could be made if you lived without your soul, the poor were forsaken and the exotic and beautiful were to be exploited. Like fellow shameless author, James Joyce, Iceberg Slim writes of truth and language and outrage -- in search of the human condition. In "Mama Black Widow", a young, Black, Gay man must come to terms with a vicious, uncaring world and learn to live a dangerous but more truthful life in the shadows and on the streets. Recognized for his lurid style and his unglamorized portraits of fellow pimps, prostitutes, thieves, racist psychotic cops and fringe dwellers, the best-selling books of Iceberg Slim ushered in the era of "Black Exploitation" influencing 1960s cinema and eventually Hip Hop culture. The movie rights to "Mama Black Widow" have been acquired but don't take the kids -- it will most likely have an "R" rating.
Price: $200.00