In this illustrated book, scholar and teacher Robert Farris Thompson gives us the definitive account of cool -not cool the adjective- cool the aesthetic; the cool fundamental to the culture of the Black Atlantic and expressed in ideals of balance and control; the cool of creative matters, full of motion and brilliance; the cool of individual and social responsibility. Cool has ancient roots in Nigeria, is still evident in shared traits of West African dance, and came to the Americas with slaves who wove it into a rich and dynamic creole civilization. Thompson shows us the cool's reinvention in terminologies galore; clothing, gesture, and body language; sports, especially basketball; music and dance; religious practices; and art in various guises, yardshows and quilts, paintings and gallery installations.This book brings together all Thompson's writings on the cool; together they form an incomparable record of encounters and recognitions that began when the U.S. was still segregated and