The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature

A breathtaking achievement, this Concise Companion is a suitable crown to the astonishing production in African American literature and criticism that has swept over American literary studies in the last two decades. It offers an enormous range of writers-from Sojourner Truth to Frederick Douglass, from Zora Neale Hurston to Ralph Ellison, and from Toni Morrison to August Wilson. It contains entries on major works (including synopses of novels), such as Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. It also incorporates information on literary characters such as Bigger Thomas, Coffin Ed Johnson, Kunta Kinte, Sula Peace, as well as on character types such as Aunt Jemima, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, Stackolee, and the trickster. Icons of black culture are addressed, including vivid details about the lives of Muhammad Ali, John Coltrane, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman.Here, too, are general articles on poetry, fiction, and drama; on autobiography, slave narratives, Sunday School literature, and oratory; as well as on a wide spectrum of related topics. Compact yet thorough, this handy volume gathers works from a vast array of sources--from the black periodical press to women's clubs--making it one of the most substantial guides available on the growing, exciting world of African American literature. The Book Surveys A Vast Literary Landscape, Covering Writers From Sojourner Truth To Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston To Ralph Ellison, And Toni Morrison To August Wilson. Over 400 Entries Span The Entire Range Of African American Writing - From Major Works (including Synopses Of Novels) Such As Harriet Jacobs's Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, Richard Wright's Native Son, And Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun To Vivid Literary Characters Such As Bigger Thomas, Coffin Ed Johnson, Kunta Kinte, And Sula Peace. Character Types Such As Aunt Jemima, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, And Stackolee Are Discussed In Detail, And Recognition Is Given To Those Figures Of Vital Importance To Black Culture And Our Nation, Among Them Muhammad Ali, John Coltrane, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, John Brown, And Harriet Tubman. Featuring Biographies, Individual Works Including Poems, Fiction, Songs, Plays, And Essays, And An Appendix That Reprints In Its Entirety The Essay Literary History, The Companion Fully Captures The Sweep Of African American Writing In The United States From The Colonial Days To The Present.--jacket. Editors, William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Around the World with a King, is an eyewitness account of Hawaiian King Kalakaua's journey around the world in 1881.

William Armstrong accompanied the King as a member of His Majesty's Government and Royal Commissioner for Immigration. His account of this remarkable circumnavigation, the first ever for a monarch, is told with humor and insight, although not always with sympathy for the King's aspirations or ideals.

The book is a gem of Hawaiian literature. It provides us with insights into the personality of King Kalakaua, and into the mind of Mr. Armstrong. We are given fascinating glimpses of the courts of both Eastern and Western countries, including the Japanese Royal Court and that of Queen Victoria of England.

Mr. Armstrong sometimes views his royal master with a jaundiced eye, but, to the reader, King Kalakaua emerges unscathed. Song writer, bon vivant, able politician, scholar, gentleman, and humanist, Kalakaua was devoted to his Hawaiian subjects and the to him. Nicknamed the Merry Monarch, he has, with the passing of time, emerged as a highly significant personality who has been more appropriately named the Magnificent Monarch.
Around the World with a King, is an eyewitness account of Hawaiian King Kalakaua's journey around the world in 1881. William Armstrong accompanied the King as a member of His Majesty's Government and Royal Commissioner for Immigration. His account of this remarkable circumnavigation, the first ever for a monarch, is told with humor and insight, although not always with sympathy for the King's aspirations or ideals. The book is a gem of Hawaiian literature. It provides us with insights into the personality of King Kalakaua, and into the mind of Mr. Armstrong. We are given fascinating glimpses of the courts of both Eastern and Western countries, including the Japanese Royal Court and that of Queen Victoria of England. Mr. Armstrong sometimes views his royal master with a jaundiced eye, but, to the reader, King Kalakaua emerges unscathed. Song writer, bon vivant , able politician, scholar, gentleman, and humanist, Kalakaua was devoted to his Hawaiian subjects and the to him. Nicknamed the Merry Monarch, he has, with the passing of time, emerged as a highly significant personality who has been more appropriately named the Magnificent Monarch. This abridgement of The Oxford Companion to African American Literature will make the entries of the greatest general interest available to a wider audience, providing the same calibre of scholarship and information as the original volume. The Concise collects more than 400 biographies (authors, critics, literary characters and historical figures) of both well-known figures and the lives and careers of writers not found in other reference works. The abridgement also includes the 150 plot summaries of major works. The editors briefly update the biographic details for author entries to include mention of major new works, death dates, and awards since the Companion's 1997 publication. A revised introduction, contributors list, subject index, cross-references, and updated bibliographical notes are also included. The volume reprints in its entirety the five-part fifteen page essay, "Literary History", capturing the full sweep of African American writing in the U.S. from the colonial and early national eras to the present day. This is a concise edition of the Oxford Companion to African American Literature and provides the biographies and plot summaries updated since the Companion's publication. It collects more than 400 biographies AI (b. 1947), poet. Born in Tucson, Arizona, the poet AI, pseudonym of Florence Anthony, looks to a complex American multicultural ancestry-a Japanese father and a mother part black, Choctaw, and Irish.