We're glad to again service customers, even though our former store front has closed and we operate this web store under reduced services.
Just scroll to the bottom to review limits placed on orders. .
“Noah's perspective of growing up as the son of a black woman and white man in South Africa during apartheid, mixed with his trademark humor, is both insightful and poignant. We in the U.S. are often presented with what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has termed 'the danger of the single story,' which depicts history only from the point of view of the oppressors. It is refreshing and enlightening to learn history from someone directly affected by the heinousness of the apartheid laws.”
— Karena Fagan (E), Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man's coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Michiko Kakutani, New York Times - Newsday - Esquire - NPR - Booklist
Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother--his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.
The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother's unconventional, unconditional love.
Praise for Born a Crime
" A] compelling new memoir . . . By turns alarming, sad and funny, Trevor Noah's] book provides a harrowing look, through the prism of Mr. Noah's family, at life in South Africa under apartheid. . . . Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author's remarkable mother."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
" An] unforgettable memoir."--Parade
"What makes Born a Crime such a soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, is reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism. . . . What also helped was having a mother like Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah. . . . Consider Born a Crime another such gift to her--and an enormous gift to the rest of us."--USA Today
" Noah] thrives with the help of his astonishingly fearless mother. . . . Their fierce bond makes this story soar."--People
Nevertheless, UPB provides ship-to-home service.
Unless and until we move our on-line fulfillment team to different premises, everything you purchase from us ships from warehouses outside of Berkeley.
Much of what we used to carry on store shelves is available, except for very expensive books, used books, and titles fallen between printings.
A number of limitations apply during this period of reduced operations:
You can also purchase eBooks and audio books through us. Distributed by Hummingbird, they include publications from the major trade publishers. Just access the menu link or the sidebar image above.
We greatly appreciate your support of the store with your book orders. Need a book without our current shopping restrictions? We recommend Bookshop. View our affiliate page, then search for whatever book you'd like.
Should you have questions, email us via our contact form. Since none of will be keeping regular hours, it may take a day or two to get back with you.
The Cafe Ohlone has closed for the duration of the epidemic. They will probably reopen at a different location when they do.
From 1974, University Press Books has stoked the blaze of well over ten thousand minds on fire, carrying new scholarship published by the great university presses in the English-speaking world.
Since our founding, we've added quality fiction and creative non-fiction to our selection, without drfiting from our mission to showcase top new texts introduced by university presses.
Order from us. Visit us. Let well-wrought words churn and burn within.