Robert Washington's painstaking comparison of five black literary movements is certain to stimulate debate, reflection, outrage. Literary sociology is rarely as provocative as this. Members of the black literary community, and the white liberals, who have appeared to support them, will need to respond to Washington's devastating analysis.
Wendy Griswold, Northwestern University Exploring in unique and powerful ways the ... Read moreshaping forces of a literary movement, this exciting work of scholarship shifts the ways we must read Afro-American literature. With precision and analytical skill, Washington carries us persuasively into heretofore neglected domains of black literature and its production in the United States.
Houston A. Baker, Jr., Duke University The Ideologies of African American Literature is a powerful and truly engaging book. It is packed with insights on how the ideological climate of American race relations influenced the writings of the dominant black literary schools from the 1920s through the 1960s. Robert Washington's scholarship is impressive and his provocative arguments will be discussed and debated for many years.
William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University Ideologies of African American Literature is the most sophisticated analysis of the sociology of black literature yet published. This book is superior in every way, and is essential reading for all students of the African American literary tradition.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University An extremely impressive book offering a provocative interpretation that is certain to be discussed and argued about.
CHOICE
This thoroughly informative book not only expands our understanding of African American literature but also challenges future scholarship.
Ethnic and Racial Studies
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