[By Howard Rambsy II] Every year that I’ve assigned Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, folks in the classes who have some initial difficulties with the book want to know what made me choose it. For some reason, I typically stumble through answers. Over the years, I’ve developed a list to that addresses their questions. I think. Perhaps. Maybe. So here we go, my new and improved […]
[Compiled by Howard Rambsy II] Here’s a sketch of the coverage of Zone One by Colson Whitehead. The pre-publication attention that the work has received has been remarkable. On February 1, Colson Whitehead announced on his twitter page: “Ok: My new book is called Zone One & it comes out 10/18. It concerns the rehabilitation of NYC after the apocalypse.” February 1, The GalleyCat blog […]
[By Howard Rambsy II] “Literary reputations may not always rise and fall as predictably as elevators,” noted Gary Krist toward the end of a February 7, 1999 review of The Intuitionist. “But if there’s any justice in the world of fiction, Colson Whitehead’s should be heading toward the upper floors.” Perhaps there’s some justice, because Whitehead has risen to those upper floors. It’s necessary of […]
[By Howard Rambsy II] Next Tuesday, October 18, will mark the release of Colson Whitehead’s novel Zone One. His previous four novels and one work of creative non-fiction, The Colossus of New York have helped make him one of our leading literary figures. Whitehead has distinguished himself as a really inventive writer, and with this upcoming “zombie” novel, he seems to further stretch the boundaries […]
[Compiled By Kenton Rambsy] Daniel Rasmussen’s—American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt is the riveting and long-neglected story of this elaborate plot, the rebel army’s dramatic march on the city, and its shocking conclusion. No North American slave uprising—not Gabriel Prosser’s, not Denmark Vesey’s, not Nat Turner’s—has rivaled the scale of this rebellion either in terms of the number of […]
[An HBW collaboration with Howard Rambsy II via SIUE Black Studies] The shocking passing of Manning Marable and the long-awaited publication of his biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention have prompted quite a bit of commentary. [Related: Marable, the 1950s, & Black Public Intellectuals] Our work with the Project on the History of Black Writing prompted us to keep track of the coverage on […]
Tanya Golash-Boza is a sociologist of race, ethnicity and immigration whose work explores racial and ethnic identities in the United States and Latin America as well as the racial disparities and human rights implications of U.S. immigration policy. As an Assistant Professor of Sociology and American Studies at the University of Kansas, she teaches courses on race, immigration and globalization. Yo Soy Negro is the […]