DO YOU KNOW WHAT STARTED THE DISCO CRAZE? Before Studio 54. Before Saturday Night Fever. Before the glitter balls and the gold records-there was a group of ambitious Black college students in New York City who changed nightlife forever. After Dark: Birth of the Disco Dance Party is a riveting firsthand account of the explosive rise of New York's disco scene, told by an insider who lived it. In the late 1960s, a social club called The Best of Friends (TBOF) formed around a shared love of music and dancing. What started as a college clique evolved into a multi-million-dollar network of discotheques that helped ignite a cultural revolution-years before mainstream America ever heard the word "disco." Inside these clubs, anything could happen. Midtown "Buppies," corporate executives, streetwise promoters, glamorous dancing queens, mob figures, and law enforcement all moved to the same beat. On any given night, the dance floor brought together celebrities like Rick James and Elizabeth Taylor alongside everyday New Yorkers-an electric collision of power, fame, race, and desire. But disco was never just glitter and excess. It was a unifying force across race, class, and identity. It was a sanctuary-a place where people shed their labels and found freedom. And it was the birthplace of an entirely new genre of music that would sweep the country and conquer the world. With innovative DJ techniques and an instinct for what moved a crowd, TBOF created euphoric dance experiences that paved the way for the global disco explosion of the 1970s-from underground New York clubs to the international mainstream. This is the origin story that has never been told-until now. Raw, immersive, and unforgettable, After Dark takes you behind the velvet ropes and onto the dance floor where a generation found its voice, one song at a time. If you love music history, Black cultural history, New York City nightlife, and the untold stories behind America's greatest pop culture moments, this is the book you've been waiting for. Because after dark, anything was possible-and everything was at stake.