"This collection of essays by scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois is a masterpiece in the African American canon. Du Bois, arguably the most influential African American leader of the early twentieth century, offers insightful commentary on black history, racism, and the struggles of black Americans following emancipation. In his groundbreaking work, the author presciently writes that 'the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,'...

Mark Twain's semi-autobiographical travel memoir, "Roughing It" was written between 1870-1871 and subsequently published in 1872. Billed as a prequel to "Innocents Abroad", in which Twain details his travels aboard a pleasure cruise through Europe and the Holy Land in 1867, "Roughing It" conversely documents Twain's early days in the old wild west between the years 1861-1867. Employing his characteristically humoristic wit and flare for regional dialect,...

Emma Bovary, the bored wife of a French provincial doctor, scans her solitude with desperate eyes, like a shipwrecked sailor searching for a white sail on the distant horizon. And when Emma's ship finally comes in, it carries with it vast and tragic consequences upon which her own life and the lives of those around her are wrecked. This new translation by Francis Steegmuller was published as a part of the centenary celebration of the original publishing...

Describes the art, religion, history, daily life, and rituals of ancient China.

A collection of Baldwin's essays on topics ranging from race relations in the United States--including an attack on William Faulkner for this ambivalent views about the segregated South--to the role of the writer in society, with personal accounts of such writers as Richard Wright and Norman Mailer. --From publisher description

A whirlwind tour of the Harlem Renaissance era of the early 20th century.

Examines the cultural movement that historians today refer to as the Harlem Renaissance. Out of this era emerged such well-known voices as Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, and Duke Ellington among others.

"The most complete and affordable single-volume reference of African American culture available today, this almanac is a unique and valuable resource devoted to illustrating and demystifying the moving, difficult, and often lost history of black life in America. A legacy of pride, struggle, and triumph spanning more than 400 years is presented through a fascinating mix of biographies-including 500 influential figures-little-known or misunderstood...