Jamaicaway Books & Gifts

Welcome!

JAMAICAWAY BOOKS & GIFTS is New England's only multicultural bookstore. We opened in 1998 to nurture an environment that celebrates the creativeness of all the different cultures of the world through a love of books. We also strive to celebrate the united efforts of people around the world to sustain our planet. In accomplishing our mission, we hope to break down the barriers that separate us ethnicaly, racially, and economically.

Our goal is to provide a relaxing environment that allows you to shop for gifts and your favorite books. We recently added Wireless internet service for your convenience. Small tables are available for you to sit at as you relax and use the internet or enjoy our light beverages such as coffee, tea and hot cocoa. We will continue to add to our services for the benefit of our community of readers.

Our Staff's Favorite Books

Your not going to find this on the NY Times top ten list, our Jamaica Plain shoppers are a little more selective when it comes to books that they buy and love. Here is this week's top sellers at Jamaicaway Books & Gifts

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Obama, Barack
"A government that truly represents these Americans-that truly serves these Americans-will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won't be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we'll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break."
-from The Audacity of Hope

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners' minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called "the audacity of hope."
Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics-a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy." He explores those forces-from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media-that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seekingto balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.
At the heart of this book is Senator Obama's vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats-from terrorism to pandemic-that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy-where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, even the president, is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.
A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes-"waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them."

Black History Month

We at Jamaicaway Books & Gifts would like to merdge our two passions, books and our Jamaica Plain community, by facilitating an enviornment where you can relax, get together, and talk about books. In celebration of Black History month we would like to reccomend titles by our favorit American Indian authors. Let us know if there is someone you want to include!

Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian Holocaust
by Moore, Marijo
As you walk out of your front door tomorrow morning, look down. Look to your left and to your right. Touch the earth: the concrete, the sidewalk, or whatever surrounds you. Undoubtedly you will be touching the layered coverings of the remains of indigenous peoples. Not arrowheads, not broken pieces of pottery -- but the very DNA of the first peoples of this continent. For five centuries -- from Columbus's arrival in 1492 to the U.S. Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s, to the renewed assault in the 1970s -- our continent's indigenous people endured the most massive and systematic act of genocide in the history of the world. In Eating Fire, Tasting Blood, twenty established and up-and-coming American Indian writers from disparate nations and tribes offer stirring reflections on the history of their people. This is not a collection of essays about Native Americans but rather a collection BY Native Americans -- the story of native holocaust on a tribe-by-tribe level as told by those few who have been fortunate enough to survive. Included are original essays by Vine Deloria Jr., Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, and Eduardo Galeano.

Events

JAMAICAWAY BOOKS & GIFTS hosts many special events including book signings, poetry readings, lectures and concerts. Please see our calendar listings for our upcoming events.