another book:
_Five for Five: The Films of Spike Lee_
photographs by David Lee
essays by Terry McMillan, Toni Cade Bambara, Nelson George, Charles
Johnson, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Melvin Van Peebles, intro by Spike Lee.
NY: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. 1991.
 
The story goes that Lee asked each of these contributors for essays, and
yes they all praise his work. The other story goes that he asked for an
essay by Amiri Baraka, who said he thought his wouldn't "fit." Lee asked
anyway. Baraka's essay was not laudatory. Lee rejected it. The fight between
them continues in print and elsewhere to this day.
 
cynthia