This work is essentially a bibliography consisting of a representative sampling of 58 nonfiction books published in the year 2004 about African Americans and about the issues that impacted and impact us, - viewed in the context of the canon of 664 selected from those published in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The offerings of the mainstream press in the period 1939-1964 are cited as a backdrop. Ninety-one titles published over the years 2001 to 2003 constitute the sampling for that period. The surge in the publication of books in the canon at the end of the 20th century is analyzed.