Valerie Babb, Ph.D.
professor, author, public intellectual
Valerie Babb is Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Emory University.
The author of multiple books, her most recent is The Book Of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron. In it she views LeBron James beyond basketball, as an activist athlete continuing in the tradition of Muhammed Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, and others. Among her other publications are A History of the African American Novel, a reexamination of the novel’s relationship to American Blackness; Whiteness Visible: The Meaning of Whiteness in American Literature and Culture, a look at the unacknowledged role whiteness plays in American racial history and politics; and the co-authored Black Georgetown Remembered: A History of Its Black Community from the Founding of “The Town of George” in 1751 to the Present Day. She developed and was creative consultant and producer for the video by the same name. She has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad and presented a Distinguished W. E. B. DuBois Lecture at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
A proud product of public education, she received her BA from Queens College, City University of New York and her MA and PhD, from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Valerie Babb is Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Emory University.
The author of multiple books, her most recent is The Book Of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron. In it she views LeBron James beyond basketball, as an activist athlete continuing in the tradition of Muhammed Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, and others. Among her other publications are A History of the African American Novel, a reexamination of the novel’s relationship to American Blackness; Whiteness Visible: The Meaning of Whiteness in American Literature and Culture, a look at the unacknowledged role whiteness plays in American racial history and politics; and the co-authored Black Georgetown Remembered: A History of Its Black Community from the Founding of “The Town of George” in 1751 to the Present Day and developed and was creative consultant and producer for the video by the same name. She has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad and presented a Distinguished W. E. B. DuBois Lecture at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
A proud product of public education, she received her BA from Queens College, City University of New York and her MA and PhD, from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
The Book of James:
The Power, Politics and Passion of Lebron
LeBron James is the hero in two very American tales: one, a success story the nation loves; the other, the latest installment in an ongoing chronicle of American antiblackness. He’s the poor boy from a “broken” home in a poverty-stricken neighborhood who makes good. He’s also the poor Black boy who makes good, then at the apex of his career finds “n*****” spray-painted across the gate to his home.
James has lived in the public eye ever since high school when his extraordinary athletic skills subjected his every action, every statement, every fashion choice to intense public scrutiny that tells us less about James himself and more about an American landscape still wrestling with many social inequities. He uses his celebrity not to transcend Blackness, but to give it a place of cultural prominence. The backlash he receives reveals the frictions between Blackness and antiblackness. As a result, James’s story is a revelatory narrative of how much Blackness is loved, hated, misunderstood, and just plain cool in an America that has changed and yet not changed at all.
The Book of James:
The Power, Politics and Passion of Lebron (2023)
LeBron James is the hero in two very American tales: one, a success story the nation loves; the other, the latest installment in an ongoing chronicle of American antiblackness. He’s the poor boy from a “broken” home in a poverty-stricken neighborhood who makes good. He’s also the poor Black boy who makes good, then at the apex of his career finds “n*****” spray-painted across the gate to his home.
James has lived in the public eye ever since high school when his extraordinary athletic skills subjected his every action, every statement, every fashion choice to intense public scrutiny that tells us less about James himself and more about an American landscape still wrestling with many social inequities. He uses his celebrity not to transcend Blackness, but to give it a place of cultural prominence. The backlash he receives reveals the frictions between Blackness and antiblackness. As a result, James’s story is a revelatory narrative of how much Blackness is loved, hated, misunderstood, and just plain cool in an America that has changed and yet not changed at all.
praise for the book of james
“Valerie Babb has brilliantly explored the majesty of King James. She has laid out a powerful analysis of the ways that LeBron’s unapologetic Blackness fuels his commitment to community, his confidence, his rooted sense of family, his refusal to accept inequality, his knowledge of the power of controlling the narrative, and his understanding of the responsibilities of celebrity and wealth. The Book of James is simply a triumph.”
— Carol Anderson, New York Times–bestselling author of author of White Rage
“I’m so glad LeBron James never did ‘stick to sports’—and even more glad Babb wrote this extraordinary book. This deeply powerful and incisive account is a wonderful companion to James’ legacy, and an outright clinic on how to write about basketball, race, culture and America itself.”
— Mirin Fader, New York Times–bestselling author of Giannis
“The Book of James is bigger than LeBron and bigger than basketball. Be careful handling this work because Babb’s insights are so sharp you might hurt yourself. Basketball fan or not, this book will take you places you never intended—and you will enjoy every moment of the ride.”
— Tayari Jones, award-winning author of An American Marriage
“With The Book of James, Valerie Babb has created an exquisite exploration into the context, characters and culture that created LeBron James. I’ve imagined this book for decades and never believed we would get a book worthy of the complicated wonder of LeBron James. That book is here, and it is stunning.”
— Kiese Laymon, award-winning author of Heavy and Long Division
“This is a valuable contribution to the growing literature examining the intersection of professional sports and race in America.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
“A study of basketball great LeBron James as an exemplar of unapologetic Blackness.”
— Kirkus Reviews
praise for the book of james
“Valerie Babb has brilliantly explored the majesty of King James. She has laid out a powerful analysis of the ways that LeBron’s unapologetic Blackness fuels his commitment to community, his confidence, his rooted sense of family, his refusal to accept inequality, his knowledge of the power of controlling the narrative, and his understanding of the responsibilities of celebrity and wealth. The Book of James is simply a triumph.”
— Carol Anderson, New York Times–bestselling author of author of White Rage
“I’m so glad LeBron James never did ‘stick to sports’—and even more glad Babb wrote this extraordinary book. This deeply powerful and incisive account is a wonderful companion to James’ legacy, and an outright clinic on how to write about basketball, race, culture and America itself.”
— Mirin Fader, New York Times–bestselling author of Giannis
“The Book of James is bigger than LeBron and bigger than basketball. Be careful handling this work because Babb’s insights are so sharp you might hurt yourself. Basketball fan or not, this book will take you places you never intended—and you will enjoy every moment of the ride.”
— Tayari Jones, award-winning author of An American Marriage
“With The Book of James, Valerie Babb has created an exquisite exploration into the context, characters and culture that created LeBron James. I’ve imagined this book for decades and never believed we would get a book worthy of the complicated wonder of LeBron James. That book is here, and it is stunning.”
— Kiese Laymon, award-winning author of Heavy and Long Division
“This is a valuable contribution to the growing literature examining the intersection of professional sports and race in America.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
“A study of basketball great LeBron James as an exemplar of unapologetic Blackness.”
— Kirkus Reviews