In the course of his wanderings from a Southern Negro college to New York's Harlem, an American black man becomes involved in a series of adventures. Introduction explains circumstances under which the book was written. Ellison won the National Book Award for this searing record of a black man's journey through contemporary America. Unquestionably, Ellison's book is a work of extraordinary intensity--powerfully imagined and written with a savage,...

The life of a thirteen-year-old Harlem black boy on his way to becoming a confirmed heroin addict is seen from his viewpoint and from that of several people around him.

"In this poetry collection, an award-winning author presents a portrait of nineteenth-century Black America. This masterful and haunting mosaic is a search for lost histories, both personal and inherited"--

"In the summer of 1964, twenty-one-year-old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she's ever been in in her life. After suffering a brutal attack, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet's skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. She decides to run, but desperation and fear lead her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than...

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: a stunning meditation on ritual and collectiveness that explores how older forms of inquiry--from song to prayer to ways of public gathering--might help us all survive violent times and address America's shared history"--

A cultural critic reassesses the late civil rights leader's significance and influence on American society, as well as the ways in which his death transformed the discussion of race in America.