Addresses the political and aesthetic evolution of African American literature and its authors during the Cold War, an era McCarthy calls "the Blue Period."In the years after World War II, to be a black writer was to face a stark predicament. The contest between the Soviet Union and the United States was a global one—an ideological battle that dominated almost every aspect of the cultural agenda. On the one hand was the Soviet Union, espousing revolutionary communis...

**2022 Whiting Award Winner for NonfictionFinalist • National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism)Best Books of the Year: TIME, Kirkus Reviews"This is a very smart and soulful book. Jesse McCarthy is a terrific essayist." —Zadie SmithA supremely talented young critic’s essays on race and culture, from Toni Morrison to trap, herald the arrival of a major new voice in American letters.**Ranging from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparatio...

Even as our world has suffered through successive upheavals, Jesse McCarthy contends, "something was happening in the world of culture: a surging and unprecedented visibility at every level of black art making." Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul? reckons with this resurgence, arguing for the central role of art and intellectual culture in an age of widening inequality and moral crisis.McCarthy reinvigorates the essay form as a space not only for argument but for experime...

The Bern Book is a travelogue, a memoir, a “diary of an isolated soul” (Darryl Pinckney), and a meditation on the myth and reality of race in midcentury Europe and America.In 1953, having left the US and settled in Bern, Switzerland, Vincent O. Carter, a struggling writer, set about composing a “record of a voyage of the mind.” The voyage begins with Carter’s furiously good-humored description of how, every time he leaves the house, he must face the possib...

**The first volume in an anthology series that amplifies the voices of unsung Black poets to paint a more robust picture of our national past, and of the Black literary imagination, with a foreword by Tracy K. SmithA Penguin Classic**Joshua Bennett and Jesse McCarthy repeatedly found themselves struck by the number of exciting poets they came across in long-out-of-print collections and forgotten journals whose work has been neglected or entirely ignored, even by scholars of...

Stoneover: The Observed Lessons and Unanswered Questions of Cannabis Legalization examines the political and social entrepreneurs that champion marijuana decriminalization efforts, their constituents’ attitudes toward legalization, the specific successful reform measures at the state level, and the consequent market dynamics in cannabis commerce. Each chapter presents a unique dataset with specific contributions in understanding local and national trends and outcomes of more than two decad...

A collection of 67 original recordings of speeches significant in United States and world history. Hear presidents, politicians, activists, sports figures and more in their own words as they talk about some of the most important events in the 20th century.

**The first volume in an anthology series that amplifies the voices of unsung Black poets to paint a more robust picture of our national past, and of the Black literary imagination, with a foreword by Tracy K. SmithA Penguin Classic**Joshua Bennett and Jesse McCarthy repeatedly found themselves struck by the number of exciting poets they came across in long-out-of-print collections and forgotten journals whose work has been neglected or entirely ignored, even by scholars of...

"It's the unknown that gets us. I mean, where are they? They have to be somewhere ..."-AnonymousNo Trace features fifteen tales of disappearances from some of today's newest writers that tell the stories of the vanished.Some are poignant, some are terrifying. Others you can see unfolding in your mind's eye.All will leave you wondering.Featured Contributors:Glen Damien Campbell & Jennifer Gilbert-Campbell, Adjie Henderson, Wil...

“For those of us who are used to handling manuscripts — sometimes to examine them line by line, more often to flip through the pages — it’s a privileged moment indeed when we realize that we are dealing with a text destined for that small shelf of memorable literature certain to be printed and reprinted over the years. The telltale signs, for me, are trembling hands, eyeglasses clouding over — the psychological equivalent of a thunderclap. The book you have in hand now provided all of thes...

'Luminous... a vibrant portrait of African-American life at the nation's crossroads' New York Times Book Review'A rousing, inspired work, keenly observed and soulful... the novel sparkles with life, soaring with the loose flow of a jazzy improvisation' Boston GlobeAmerigo Jones grows up poor but surrounded by love in Jazz Age Kansas City. A precocious young dreamer, he longs for the college education that his parents could...

Big Show is one impressive superstar. This seven-foot tall giant dominates his opponents with his huge size and power. Learn more about the “World’s Largest Athlete” in this high-interest title for reluctant readers.