Description: The first major twenty-first century history of four hundred years of black writing, The Cambridge History of African American Literature presents a comprehensive overview of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States. Expert contributors, drawn from the United States and beyond, emphasize the dual nature of each text discussed as a work of art created by an individual and as a response to unfolding events in American cultural, political, and social history. Unprecedented in scope, sophistication and accessibility, the volume draws together current scholarship in the field. It also looks ahead to suggest new approaches, new areas of study, and as yet undervalued writers and works. The Cambridge History of African American Literature is a major achievement both as a work of reference and as a compelling narrative and will remain essential reading for scholars and students in years to come.
Brief description: Maryemma Graham is a Professor of English at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Review Quotes: "Covering 400 years of writing, this balanced reference is a comprehensive overview of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States, with expert contributors from this country and beyond. It does an excellent job of collecting current scholarship while suggesting new approaches to that effort. The work provides a reasonably complete chronological accounting from early oral traditions of the 17th century to classic works from late 19th-century writers such as poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, through Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance, to the most recent decades where August Wilson became the most produced playwright in the 1990s."
-Library Journal, Best Reference 2011: Language & Linguistics