The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

Book Description

"The ultimate book for both the dabbler and serious scholar--. [Hughes] is sumptuous and sharp, playful and sparse, grounded in an earthy music--. This book is a glorious revelation."--Boston Globe

Spanning five decades and comprising 868 poems (nearly 300 of which have never before appeared in book form), this magnificent volume is the definitive sampling of a writer who has been called the poet laureate of African America--and perhaps our greatest popular poet since Walt Whitman. Here, for the first time, are all the poems that Langston Hughes published during his lifetime, arranged in the general order in which he wrote them and annotated by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel.

Alongside such famous works as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and Montage of a Dream Deferred, The Collected Poems includes the author's lesser-known verse for children; topical poems distributed through the Associated Negro Press; and poems such as "Goodbye Christ" that were once suppressed. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, the result is a treasure of a book, the essential collection of a poet whose words have entered our common language.

Customer Reviews:

Our finest American poet finally properly and comprehensively collected, with corrected chronology and annotations.......2007-07-24

More than the exiled Eliott, greater than Walt Whitman, consistently clearer than Ginsberg, more powerful than Pound, freer than Frost, more American than Wallace Stevens, moreso even than the mighty Merton, here at long last is our greatest American poet receiving over-due respect.

A thick tome I purchased for my English learners which will instead fill my bed and my head for many cold and lonesome months ahead. Like the collected Poe, the collected Giovanni, an essential element to any American literature shelf, here for the first time meticulously researched and reported, with promise for more should any further works emerge. This is our American voice, clear and strong. This is the consummate volume of this great American poet, the one who wrote:

"( . . .) I've known rivers, ancient dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers."

May we once more grow deep with him, and by him. Read him, once more, here, complete and correct. Read him, and recall our America. Read him.

This guy blows me out of the water.......2007-06-18

I prefer his earlier stuff but there are poems in this book that make the entire thing worth it. Nude Young Dancer, Minstrel Song and countless others made me want to weep and smile. What can I say, I felt this guys pain...

poetry that is food for the soul.............2007-05-04

If you haven't heard of Langston Hughes, I suggest that you purchase this, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES, as an introduction to his style. Hughes was part of the definitive Harlem Renaissance Movement of the 1920s through the late 1940s, that was a very important period of time for African-Americans in the United States. For the first time, their voices were really being heard [and recognized] in the genres of music, writing, and sculpture, in this country.

This book is an amazing collection of five decades of his most powerful, intelligent and sensitive works. The poems start in 1921 through 1967. There are also several poems, written for children, that I didn't even realize Langston had penned! So beautiful and unexpected. What's more, one of his most well-known poems is featured, here, "What Happens to a Dream Deferred." Langston Hughes' views of race, society and social issues are truly timeless and compelling. For me, reading his works is like listening to a quiet, constant patter of rain on the rooftop, gradually growing with intensity, until the raindrops start flowing like teardrops from the great sky. That is how Hughes uses language. Essentially, he derives his beautiful rhythmic poetic language from an infinite river of words, he then pours them over on another and tells stories. This is truly the book to add to your poetry collection.

An American Poet.......2007-01-17

I picked this up the other day because I had money to burn on a gift card and I was curious. I have always loved his (most anthologized) poem, "Harlem", otherwise referred to as "A Dream Deferred". In his writing, he clearly expresses the sturggles of African Americans in the first half of the Twentieth Century in America. He reminds us of the many valuable contributions of African Americans to our society and culture. He reminds us of veterans who fought for freedoms that would never be extended to them. He writes of a noble and courageous people.

There may be a smattering of bitterness here and there, but his primary message seems to be peace and love of humankind. Equally powerful as his message, is the poetry itself. It gives the illusion of simplicity and begs to be read aloud. Some of it is breathtaking, none of it is boring or insignificant. If you like poetry at all, Hughes is extremely accessible most of the time. His words will help restore one's faith in humanity. This book demonstrates the importance and relevance of poetry in its ability to communicate matters of the heart and soul. This may be the best book of poetry I own I have found it to be highly inspiraitonal. Just get this book, okay?

Langston Hughes defies categories.......2006-07-29

These collected poems of Langston Hughes paint a full-bodied portrait of that amazing artist. From his simple, blues-inspired, folk refrains to his epic poems on African, American, and African-American identity, Hughes defies simple categorization.

This book is required reading for anyone who loves America, hip-hop or poetry. Because it's so readable, you can keep going back time and time again.

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes (Poetry For Young People)

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Harlem's best
Amazing
A WORK TO TREASURE

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes (Poetry For Young People)

Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402718454

Book Description

Sterling proudly announces an exciting and vibrant addition to Poetry for Young People: The first African-American themed book in the series, featuring the poems of the extraordinary Langston Hughes. Edited by the two leading experts on Hughes’s work, and illustrated by the brilliant Benny Andrews, this very special volume is one to treasure forever.

A much-requested book that was years in the making…and well worth the wait. One of the central figures in the Harlem Renaissance—the flowering of black culture that took place in the 1920s and 30s—Langston Hughes captured the soul of his people, and gave voice to their concerns about race and social justice. His magnificent and powerful words still resonate today: that’s why it’s so important for young people to have access to his poems. Now they do, in a splendid volume edited and illustrated by a top-caliber team who are simply the best in their fields.

The introduction, biography, and annotations come from Arnold Rampersad, a Professor and Dean at Stanford University, who has written The Life of Langston Hughes, and David Roessel, co-editor with Professor Rampersad of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes and editor of the Langston Hughes collection in Knopf’s Everyman series. Benny Andrews—a painter, printmaker, and arts advocate whose work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian, among others—has created gallery-quality illustrations that pulse with energy and add rich dimension to the poems.

Among the anthologized poems are Hughes’s best-known and most loved works: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”; “Aunt Sue’s Stories”; “Danse Africaine”; “Mother to Son”; “My People”; “Words Like Freedom”; “Harlem”; and “I, Too”—his sharp, pointed response to Walt Whitman’s earlier “I Hear America Singing.”

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes is a publishing event for all to celebrate.
A Selection of the Scholastic Book Club.

Customer Reviews:

Harlem's best.......2007-07-30

If you're a Langston Hughes fan, you'll appreciate this book. It's meant for any age, and the illustrations make it even more friendly for children. I am using the book in studying the Harlem Renaissance with my students, and it does a great job. It makes it fun to study one of Harlem's biggest stars.

Amazing.......2007-02-20

I grew up without having read any Langston Hughes. Now in college, I've read some and I'm going to become a teacher. When I teach, I'm going to use this book as a tool for teaching poetry and writing. The pages have beautiful art. It's not just good for academics, I'd buy it for any kid or adult.

A WORK TO TREASURE.......2006-11-06

I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry of Langston Hughes than this small volume. The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader. The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it. I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Hughes,much less read his poetry. This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on. I do not feel I am any worse for the wear. I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot. This book helps. This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library. Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them. Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student. It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with. I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school. For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it. Recommend this one highly.

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Beauty from Horror.
A Poet for all people!!!
Hughes is Pure
He, too, sang America
Dreams Deferred

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067972818X
Release Date: 1990-09-12

Book Description

With the publication of his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America. The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night." They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture. They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."

The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America." It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

Customer Reviews:

Beauty from Horror........2007-06-30

Langston Hughes' poems makes my knees knock. There is a little thrill with each poem, like I'm landing in a vat of buttermilk, and splashing happily about. With the subject matters he dares tackle one would think it'd be more realistic to walk away from a deluge of his work in deep depression.

Not so.

Instead I walked away with a dreamy smile and knocking knees. His ability to cull the beauty from the horror is...is...is

I'm wordless.

A Poet for all people!!!.......2005-11-23

The SELECTED POEMS of LANGSTON HUGHE by Langston Hughes is exactly what is implied by the title. Absent from these "selected poems" are the more radical and controversial poems written by Hughes in the 1930s. After Hughes was forced to testify before the anti-Communist committee to defend himself, he shied away from the radicalism that so entranced him and other Afro Americans who saw socialism as an better alternative to Jim Crow.

In this selection of his poetry, there is no chronological order to the poems. Rather, they are divided into sections representing a specific theme. Here, Hughes was trying (?) to imitate Walt Whitman in arrangement. "Afro-American Fragments," "Feet of Jesus," "Shadow of the Blues," "Sea and Land," absent is the poem written for the Jamaican sailor Ferdinand Smith, SAILOR ASHORE, "Distance Nowhere," "After Hours," "Life is Fine," "Lament over Love," "Magnolia Flowers," "Name in Uphill Letter," "Madam to You," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Words Like Freedom."

The last section of poems reveal Hughes as a patriot which he actually was in life. Hughes believed in idea of the real USA and what the nation could be without prejudice. The poems I,TOO, DEMOCRACY, AFRICA, CONSIDER ME, REFUGEE IN AMERICA, FREEDOM TRAIN, THE NEGRO MOTHER and so on in this section are indicative of a patriotism despite injustices.

For those interested in a more comprehensive ouvre of Hughes poetry, I strongly recommend the COLLECTED POETRY OF LANGSTON HUGHES edited by Arnold Rampersad and associate editor David Roessel. It contains the most up to date work by Hughes and "all" his "known and published" poems. I purposely emphasized "known and published" because according to some academics there is said to exist unpublished poems of Hughes written to a black male lover that has yet to surface.

Langston Hughes is the poet of black America. His work captures the aspirations, hope, joy, tragedy, anger, and pride of many blacks past and present. But, he is also a poet for the working class man, black and of any race. There is a reason his poems have been translated into many languages and continue to inspire. The other reviews here capture some the essential essence of Hughes spirit.

Hughes is Pure.......2003-03-19

I had read several Hughes poems before buying this book, but I will admit that I had no grasp on the extent of his talent. These vivid poems were chosen by Hughes personally before his death in 1967.

They do so well to paint a picture of the time he lived -- of the blues, of love, of passion, of choices. He writes about faith and protest in a way that will move you.

I have read all of the poems exactly as they are placed in the book several times. I think I keep going back to them because this is poetry free of pretense -- it is grounded in reality and in sorrow.

Independent of age, of your ethnicity, and of your literary grasp, you will enjoy these poems. Simple and superb -- read them out loud.

He, too, sang America.......2001-10-15

"Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" is a rich selection from several decades of this poet's work. Hughes (1902-1967) is a poet of many moods and voices. His work is at times mournful, humorous, sensuous, or ironic. Many poems capture the rhythms of African-American vernacular speech. A number of narrative poems tell stories of Black life, and a number of his best poems feature female speakers. He also writes poems of social protest that deal with the anti-Black violence that has plagued the United States for so much of its history.

The poems in this book are divided into several sections. One of my favorite such sections, "Feet of Jesus," contains poems which evoke the prayers, preaching, and religious songs of African-American churches. "Madam to You" contains a number of poems in which Alberta K. Johnson tells her story. A strong-willed entrepreneur who often challenges authority figures, "Madam" is one of the most delightful characters in African-American literature.

The other sections of the book contain many of Hughes' most memorable poems: the sensuous "Midnight Dancer" ("Lips / Sweet as purple dew"), "Mother to Son" ("Life for me ain't been no crystal stair"), "Theme for English B" ("I am the only colored student in my class"), and "I, Too" ("I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother").

The lines I quoted from "I, Too" may call to mind Walt Whitman's great American poem "Leaves of Grass." Indeed, I consider Hughes to be one of the great 20th century poetic heirs of Whitman, and "Selected Poems" is a magnificent testament to Hughes' passion and vision.

Dreams Deferred.......2001-07-16

Langston Hughes wrote poetry of exquisite pain and beauty throughout his life. His poetry can be sparse and rhythmic. It evinces visions of cities, the south, churches and deep muddy rivers.

Hughes touches on every subject important to life in 20th century America: family, friends, race, religion,love, music, prejudice and poverty. Each poem sparingly provides an image in words. Together these poems represent the great work of a true artist of the American Poetry.

One of his most popular and poignant poems is Harlem. It contains such beauty in his phrase - "a dream deferred" and such power in his words or does it explode?

Book Description

In these acrid and poignant stories, Hughes depicted black people colliding--sometimes humorously, more often tragically--with whites in the 1920s and '30s.

Customer Reviews:

A Must for any Langston Hughes Reader!.......2007-04-23

I'm not a short story person but I was a assigned this book for my Harlem Renaissance Class years ago at Rutgers. I just recently read his classic short story, "THank You, MAm" which by the way isn't in this book. I loved "Cora Unashamed," "Slave on the Block," "Home," Passing," others also are "A Good Job Gone," "A Rejuvenation Through Joy," "The Blues I'm Playing," "Red-Headed Baby," "Poor Little Black Fellow," "Little Dog," "Berry," "Mother and Child," "One Christmas Eve," and "Father and Son." Surprisingly Thank You, Mam was not included in this anthology of Hughes' short stories. This book should be used in the classroom. Short Stories are usually short, sweet, and capture something that we might miss. In this book, Hughes' observations are keen and certainly interesting about life in New York City and the uneasy relationship between races. We hope that life has changed for the better for people from all walks of life. I was particularly surprised by the whites' attitudes towards blacks like the patronization. Nobody likes to be patronized and treated as inferior.

Excellent Read.......2007-01-09

This book of short stories is my all time favorite. It is definitely a classic.

One of My Favorite Writers of All Time.......2006-03-21

major fan of both Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, I found this to be beautifully written. In this book there is humor, horror and everything else in between. For once, black culture and the point of view is truely captured in poetic splendor.
This book is such an important vehicle for anyone that wanders what it truely means to be Black in this world.

For centuries the view of Blacks have been hushed and limited and quite frankly meant to be unopened. If you ever wandered what it maybe like to be Black or why Blacks have the views that they do, simply read this book. Though there are some elements of satire, the stories speak truthfully and clearly in a non-offensive manner.

Brilliant observations on a sick society!.......2005-08-11

Hughes' style may lead some readers to think that this book is simplistic. But that is far from the case. His observations were poignant, heartwrenching at times and brutally honest. What was saddened me most was my own observation that in terms of sentiment and race relations, little has changed since this classic was written.

Langston Gets Tough!!!!.......2005-03-26

The thing that has always bothered me about certain admirers of Langston Hughes is the way, unintentional I guess, some seem to neuter him into being a kind of "minstrel man,"nonthreating to a certain audience because he doesn't challenge them to think to much about certain subjects. THE WAYS WHITE FOLKS definitely disproves this fallacy and proved Langston Hughes could show his teeth.

Without ever standing on a soapbox to shout and point his a finger, here in this collection of short stories Hughes express a range of moods from humorous and bitingly caustic to the tragic showing the various types of ways black and white American interacted with one another during the early part of the 20th century. There is the perennial favorite "CORA UNASHAMED", dealing with a black woman's loneliness and self-awaking in a predominantly white community, SLAVE ON THE BLOCK, dealing with "liberal minded" white dilettantes, "HOME", about a sickly black man who returns home from Europe only to face brutal prejudice, "REJUVENATION THROUGH JOY", a biting satire
that may (?) have been taking a small swipe at Jean Toomer who Hughes lost much respect for after he turned his back to his people to live as white. Then there are the stories "THE BLUES I'M PLAYING" with its hints of Langston's former patron Mrs. Mason, "A GOOD JOB" and "POOR LITTLE FELLOW", all kind of showing the various choices, sacrifices, and prejudice faced in its varied degrees to just get by. And, more shorts where Hughes pretty much presents the entire skin color spectrum of the black American community while recounting in a few stories the often cruel ways these colors came to be, "RED-HEADED BABY" and "FATHER AND SON", this latter about an arrogant black son by a white southern father who refuses to acknowledge him as kin and the resulting tragic consequences. "PASSING", my lease favorite because it was very disturbing, is nevertheless truthful to the affects of racism and self-hate on the soul (e.g. just look at certain male and female actors and singers who cater to prejudiced imaginary percentage points of race for success).

Certain stories in this collection represent a time gone by in race relations in this country. But, while the situation in race relations have change quite significantly, it has not changed completely. There are stories in the WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS that still hold a relevant truth today as the first time they were made public. Still, there exist a widespread denial of the complicated blood history of the larger black American community, only a specific few within the community being allowed the privilege to acknowledge their heritage and, often out of self-hate, contributing to the prejudiced stereotypes against the larger black American community whose blood is "equally" rich and the "same" in its diversity. Still, there exist those little touchs of bigotry today that one has to smile away and pretend doesn't exist and hurt or be branded the angry black and thus difficult,AND the psychologically damaging effects of viewing favorably light skin blacks over dark skin blacks.

Langston Hughes was a skilled and astute observer and this is why much of his work continues to be popular and stand the test of time beyond simple entertainment value. THE WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS is definitely deserves and gets a 5 star rating!!!

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Wonderful photos and a beautiful story

The Sweet Flypaper of Life
Roy Decarava , and Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Howard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

Wonderful photos and a beautiful story.......1999-10-16

This collaborative book between Hughes and De Carava is small and wonderful. The story by Hughes is a gentle tale of one woman's life in Harlem in 1955. It is richly illustrated with the beautiful photographs of Harlem family life by De Carava.

101 Great American Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)

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The American school anthology
A Manifested Dream
Inspiring
Excllent Read
Quite a Bang for Your Buck!..........

101 Great American Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)
Edgar Allan Poe , Walt Whitman , Robert Frost , Langston Hughes , Emily Dickinson , T S. Eliot , and Marianne Moore
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486401588

Book Description

Rich treasury of verse from 19th and 20th centuries, selected for popularity and literary quality, includes Poe’s "The Raven," Whitman’s "I Hear America Singing," as well as poems by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, T S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, many other notables.

Customer Reviews:

The American school anthology .......2005-05-02

This is a wonderful collection of American poetry classics. It contains most of the poems that have been taught through the years in American schools as the ' classics ' of American Literature. It does not really touch the American poetry of the past fifty years.
Most of its poems are the shorter poems of great poetic masters , for instance for Wallace Stevens, " Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird' and the 'Emperor of Ice- Cream' but not the 'Idea of Order at Key West' for Eliot, " Prufrock" but not the "Wasteland " or the "Quartets".
A wonderful collection most highly recommended.

A Manifested Dream.......2005-03-22

This book is the manifestation of the dream of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joseph Brodsky when he said, "Poetry must be available to the public in far greater volume than it is." Brodsky believed that poetry books should be distributed free of charge in many places, such as supermarkets and factories. He also had the idea that an anthology of poetry should be, "found in every hotel room in the land." Brodsky went on to create the American Poetry & Literacy Project in 1993, and is the compiler of this book.

This little anthology covers more than 350 years of American poetry. It includes poets who were famous in their own time such as Edgar Allen Poe, and poets whose talents weren't realized until after their death, such as Emily Dickinson. It displays American patriotism in poems such as Walt Whitman's, "I Hear America Singing", and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride." Poems such as, "Dream Deferred (Harlem)" by Langston Hughes, and "Incident" by Countee Cullen, explore themes of racial prejudice and African American culture. War, loneliness, nature, children, all the many issues and emotions we as human beings find ourselves dealing with today, are all included in this small, yet well-comprised anthology.

Many of my personal favorites include poems about poetry itself. These poets and writers give serious, and not so serious, contemplation to the art of writing. On page 65, the teacher and library assistant Marianne Moore begins her poem, "Poetry" with these lines:

I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all
this fiddle.

Moore, known for her complex poems was known as the "poet's poet," and was the editor of the literary magazine The Dial, according the book's biography about her.

Pulitzer prize winner Archibald Macleish's poem, "Ars Poetica" gives his view of what a poem should be on page 72:

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

The books biography on Macleish says that he was an editor for Fortune magazine, Librarian of Congress, and Assistant Secretary of State.

According to Andrew Carroll, the Executive Director of The American Poetry and Literacy Project, Joseph Brodsky never saw the final version of this book, "101 Great American Poems" before his death. He leaves us however, with Brodsky's inspiring words in his Introduction to the book:

"Books find their readers, and if not, well let them lie around, absorb dust, rot and disintegrate. There is always going to be a child who will fish a book out of the garbage heap. I was such a child, for what it's worth..."

For us, Brodsky's own poetry and the legacy he left behind in The American Poetry and Literacy Project, continues to be worth a fortune.

~Brian Douthit
author of "Perfectly Said: when words become art"

Inspiring.......2005-02-04

I really enjoyed this alot. I felt I was transported into a world of great poems. There really wasn't a bad piece here. Indulge and buy this book.

Excllent Read.......2003-09-15

This book is quite wonderful. It includes some of my all time favorite American Poets. I recommend it to anyone who likes poetry.

Also Recommended: Quotes, Poems, and Words That Flow by Kevin Grommersch

Quite a Bang for Your Buck!.................2001-11-19

............this small book of poetry contains the work of nearly forty of the best known American poets. From Emily Dickinson to Walt Whitman to Edgar Allan Poe to Robert Frost, there are poems in this collection that are sure to appeal to everyone! Also represented in this collection are ten women poets and eight African Americans including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes and Phyllis Wheatley. There's even a poem by Abraham Lincoln that reveals his thoughts about his childhood experiences.

This collection is a simple, inexpensive way to introduce oneself to the wonderful world of American poetry. Each poet is introduced with a short biography followed by his or her most memorable work. Great buy!

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Pictorial History Of African Americans, A: Newly Updated Edition
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0517596660
Release Date: 1995-01-13

Book Description

Few books in the history of publishing have proved so useful and long-lasting as this pioneering work in the popular history of African Americans. The first edition appeared in 1956, on the eve of the civil rights revolution. A highly original attempt to portray a crucial but long-neglected part of the American past, it soon became a standard work on black history. Its rich variety of more than 1,300 illustrations -- paintings, drawings, cartoons, prints, posters, broadsides, daguerreotypes, photographs, sheet music covers, title pages, and stills from television and films -- brings home to readers young and old the look and feel of the dynamic past.

This sixth edition captures the changes on the national scene that have influenced African American life during the Reagan-Bush years and the first stages of the Clinton administration. The new text and photographs illuminate social, economic, political, and cultural trends. The authors discuss government and politics, civil rights, arts and letters, sports, labor and employment, schools, the church, and the mass media, highlighting the role of black leaders who have come to the fore in recent years.

Langston Hughes made innumerable contributions to American and world literature and culture. His poems, plays, novels, short stories, and librettos earned him many honors, beginning in the 1920s when he became a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. By the time of his death in 1967, his work had deeply influenced writers not only at home, but in Africa, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. One of the most original of black poets, he became known as the poet laureate of his people.

Milton Meltzer, historian and biographer, is the author of more than eighty books for adults and young people. His work includes Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the African American in the Performing Arts (with Langston Hughes); Slavery: A World History; Frederick Douglass: In His Own Words; The Black Americans: In Their Own Words; and biographies of Langston Hughes and Mary McLeod Bethune. Among the many honors for his books are five nominations for the National Book Award.

The Big Sea: An Autobiography (American Century Series)

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"Sometimes life is a ripe fruit too delicious for the taste of man."
Must read
The journies of a Hero
Great!!!!
A wonderful memoir

The Big Sea: An Autobiography (American Century Series)
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0809015498

Book Description

Introduction by Arnold Rampersad.

Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In The Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds of the decade--Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet--at the center of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Arnold Rampersad writes in his incisive new introduction to The Big Sea, an American classic: "This is American writing at its best--simpler than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born writer...Mark Twain."

Customer Reviews:

"Sometimes life is a ripe fruit too delicious for the taste of man.".......2007-09-30

Published when Hughes was 38, the subject of The Big Sea is the period of his life from 1902-1939. It covers a wide variety of episodes in Hughes' life, with key elements being his travels as a youth, his relationship to his father, and the Harlem Renaissance.

I knew his poetry, of course, from all those years as an English major. I have not had the occasion to read any of his prose, and decided to pick this up after reading the collected works of Nella Larsen.

There was a lot to engage with in The Big Sea. I particularly liked Hughes' description of the Harlem Renaissance. His tone when he talked about it was affectionate and wistful, but still acknowledged the limitations that it had as a lasting solution. There were many great stories ("never hit a woman") and fascinating details-- reproductions of the whist party invitations, for example.

I also really was interested in the way that Hughes discusses his father and the issue of the race. His father left the US (first to Cuba, then to Mexico) in order to avoid race prejudice. His father had nothing but scorn for people of color who stayed in the US and subjected themselves to the inevitabilities of race and class limitations. The anger that this self-imposed exile cost him comes out in his dealings with his son and the way in which he engages with the world around him.

At points, it is as though Hughes is meditating on all the different ways that people around him (including him) have used to address the race problem. It is not the most uplifting of sketches, since none of the various paths seem (according to Hughes) to be a good or lasting solution.

Well-written, interesting, and with many pointers to further reading.

Must read.......2007-05-12

I read this as an assignment in college and found it wonderfully painful in its realism and truth. A must read for every American, regardless of what ethic origin.

The journies of a Hero.......2006-07-17

"On a radio show, he (Hughes) defended the right of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who had long faced the white world with a broad grin, to vent his racial anger."

Like Armstrong, Hughes also faced the same world with his broad smile. Throughout the BIG SEA and I WONDER AS I WANDER, there in the texts of both autobiographies is the ever smiling Hughes. Other than the people he met and the foreign lands he visited---all making for great and entertaining reading--- very little is revealed about the man he was. His larger than life personae masked a man who was only 5'4 in stature, closeted gay
because being open would have meant a short career and ostracism, especially in the African American community who was a refuge from a racially hostile world and who Hughes loved with an unmatched passion back in his day, and, according to the late Gwendolyn Brooks who had known Hughes since the age of 16 wrote in a New York Times article that when Hughes was subjected to offense and icy treatment because of his race, he was capable of jagged anger - and vengeance, instant or retroactive. She has letters from him that reveal he could respond with real rage when he felt he was treated cruelly by other people.

Both autobiographies do a great job at documenting the world in Hughes' day. The most fascinating thing about the first book of his life is the Harlem Renaissance and the people who moved in it during its illustrious height. Till this day, the BIG SEA provides one of the best sources of this important period in American culture. Few people realized that if not for best friend Arna Bomtemps the autobiography may have never been written. Bontemps encouraged Hughes to write the book. Up to that time, few blacks, especially black males, had seen and done what Hughes managed to do. Plus, the book challenged stereotypes about black America in general. The challenge he had in writing the book was how to write for two audiences, white and black. Characteristically, Hughes did not pander to the white audience, "I do not hate `all' white people," nor did he distance himself from and sacrifice the racial pride his grandmother taught him to have for his people, who he primarily wrote for. In the second autobiography, Hughes is on the road again and much more time is given to his travels, especially in the then Soviet Union. Absent are his communist sympathies. Like many blacks of the day, socialism was preferable to segregation. Blatant is the unspoken critique that in the absence of capitalism, everyone man is "equal." As far as romance is concerned, scholars have noted Hughes'rather perfunctory and insincere rendezvous with the very few woman he talks about in these autobiographies. Quite understandably, Hughes attempts to pass himself off as having all the accoutrements of straight men. His situation with the over zealous Russian woman who he does not portray favorably in I WONDER AS I WANDER is interesting. She is portrayed as the Duboisian woman whose association with black men destroys them. Plus, Hughes did not favor interracial marriage so it is peculiar that he proffered the idea in the text of bring the Russian woman home as a wife as she wanted.

The above quote was from Volume 2 of Arnold Rampersad's biography of Hughes. What made Hughes' defense of Armstrong so intriguing is that Hughes also reveals much about himself and what lied behind the mask he wore. The readers of the BIG SEA and I WONDER AS I WANDER will not see the man behind the mask. They are largely presented surface, a fleeting glimpse of Hughes here and there. A scholar said to really understand Hughes, one must read Rampersad's two biographies. This scholar was partially right. But, don't dismiss these autobiographies! They are worth the read and are a enjoyable read. Time and interest permitting, do read LANGSTON HUGHES Vols. 1 and 2 by Rampersad for balance also read Faith Berry's LANGSTON HUGHES: BEFORE AND BEYOND HARLEM. Reading these latter biographies with the two autobiographies by Hughes, one will be presented the man Langston Hughes was: proudly African American, gay, brave, smart, ambitious, often very angry, and often lonely.

Hughes doesn't reveal much of himself, but his autobiographies are still 5 star ratings because like his work they continue to inspire and for everyone, especially young blacks in the inner city, let them know that they can overcome any obstacle in life so long as the desire and determination is there.

Great!!!!.......2005-09-27

Even though my book got lost in the mail, I was still able to get my money back. Thank you very much. I hope I have the chance to buy another book from you.

A wonderful memoir.......2003-12-04

Langston Hughes was a wonderful poet and story teller so it is not surprising that his autobiography/memoir is a joy to read. He tells the story of his life by giving us delightful episodes that each read like short stories. Each chapter has the structure of a short story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Along the way, the reader has to be amazed at the texture and breadth of his life adventures. He lives for a short time in Mexico with his father, in several cities with his mother and other relatives, and then his wonderful sea going adventures in Europe, Africa, and also his stay in Paris. The reader also gets a first hand glimpse of what it was like to be "Negro" in America as well as in other places in the world. The writing is bright and energetic and the book is very difficult to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone who might be thinking about writing an autobiography or memoir.

Average customer rating:

Yallo! This is a great review...read it!

The Return of Simple
Langston Hughes , and Donna Sullivan Harper
Manufacturer: Hill & Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080901582X

Customer Reviews:

Yallo! This is a great review...read it!.......1997-08-17

Hughes really takes advantage of his natural African-American 'relaxed & jazzy' instincts in these works. Enjoy

Average customer rating:

Slow to Warm
Wonderful, heartbreaking yet redemptive novel
It was ok
Wow!
A Must Read Classic

Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0020209851

Customer Reviews:

Slow to Warm.......2006-03-17

Book was interesting and provided a genuine sense of life for blacks during the early part of this century. It started slow but towards the middle of the book the pace picked up and I enjoyed it more.

Wonderful, heartbreaking yet redemptive novel.......2006-02-03

This is a fine novel written at a time of overt racial discrimation about members of a family surviving the best way they could. It does have great relevance to the 21st century because although much has changed (this was the pre-civil rights period), much still needs to be changed. This book should be required high school or college reading.

It was ok.......2006-01-26

Throughout the story you can see the talent of Langston Hughes. However, the subject was not unique or original for the current times. Granted, it may have been something special whe it was first written and published. We have all seen movies or read stories with the exact same plot; it's not worth reading if you're looking for a new story.

If you want to experience the beauty of Hughes' writing then you should give this novel a chance. It's a short read at 300 pages, but the poet's talent shines through in numerous passages.

This was my first exposure to the author and I will probably read more of his work along the way. Hopefully, there will be more unique story lines as I continue through his art.

Wow!.......2004-09-24

Such heart! I have read his poetry, but I had never read his prose. So smooth, so wonderful. I adore the characters. They followed me throughout the day. This is written so well, I really felt like I was right there. I also ran through a gamut of emotions while reading this. That's what a book should do - make me feel, make me think, make me wonder... This book did that for me.

A Must Read Classic.......2004-08-17

This book by Langston Hughes captures the life of the Midwest through the eyes of a young growing by in the early 1900's. I thought the portrayal of that life, the struggles and hardships, and the community love despite thiese things, was excellent. The writing was simple and provided a good flow to draw me into the story and to be placed in the time frame. This is a keeper for the library collection.

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