Product Description
Over a forty-six-year career, Langston Hughes experimented with black folk expressive culture, creating an enduring body of extraordinary imaginative writing. Riding the crest of African American creative energy from the Harlem Renaissance to the onset of Black Power, he commanded an artistic prowess that survives in the legacy he bequeathed to a younger generation of writers, including Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, and Amiri Baraka. Montage of a Dream extends and deepens previous scholarship, multiplying the ways in which Hughes s diverse body of writing can be explored. By showing that Hughes continues to speak to the fundamentals of human nature, this comprehensive reconsideration invites a renewed appreciation of Hughes s work and encourages new readers to discover his enduring relevance as they seek to understand the world in which we all live. ... Read more

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Definitive Book about Langston Hughes
The definitive book for literary criticism fans of Langston Hughes, one of the country's most important and gifted writers. ... Read more

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Thirteen poems about the New York City neighborhood of Harlem are teamed with the collage painting, The Block, a celebration of the bustle of Harlem, from the corner grocery store to the local Baptist church. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Awesome Book
I bought this book after seeing the interactive website on The Block, and this is a wonderful addition to any lesson on Romare Bearden.It breaks the piece up into panels and Langston Hughes wrote a poem for each section.It is very engaging to my students and has sparked much discussion about both men and their works.

Vibrant!
An incredibly vibrant combination of words and images.Excellent poetry choices that emphasize the exhuberant and the life-affirming in Hughes' poetry without ignoring the hardships he was so brilliant at expressing.The collages are a perfect counter-point to the words--bringing to life the feelings and thoughts expressed in the verses. ... Read more

Product Description
Finally available in trade paperback, Langston Hughes’s breezy parable of good and evil, friendship and betrayal, is an unforgettable portrait of 1950s Harlem and two women called to the pulpit for very different reasons.

For every bustling jazz joint that opened in Korean War–era Harlem, a new church seemed to spring up. Tambourines to Glory introduces you to an unlikely team behind a church whose rock was the curb at 126th and Lenox.

Essie Belle Johnson and Laura Reed live in adjoining tenement flats, adrift on public relief. Essie wants to somehow earn enough money to reunite with her daughter and provide her with a nice home; Laura loves young men, mink coats, and fine Scotch. On a day of inspiration, the friends decide to use a thrift-store tambourine and a layaway Bible to start a church.

Their sidewalk services are a hit: Laura’s a natural street performer who loves the limelight, while Essie is a charismatic singer with a quiet spirituality. Before long they move to a thousand-seat theatre called the Tambourine Temple. The two women are joined in their ministering by Birdie Lee, the little-old-lady trap drummer who can work the congregation to a feverish pitch, and Deacon Crow-For-Day, an impassioned confessor.

But then Laura falls for Buddy, a scam artist who suggests selling to the faithful lucky numbers from Scripture and bottles of tap water as “Holy Water from the Jordan.” Even with a Cadillac and piles of money from Laura, Buddy won’t stay faithful, igniting a crime of passion and betrayal.

Harlem Moon Classics is proud to reintroduce readers of all generations to this sparkling gem from the canon of Langston Hughes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Both of Hughes' novels are excellent, but this is hilarious!
I must say that this is the second novel of Langston Hughes and it greatly shows how he perfected his craft. Not that the first (Not without Laughter) wasn't good. It was level to this one except that the comedic timing is on par. I read it in 2 days and laughed all the way through. Not a waste of time. ... Read more

Product Description
Clackety clack clack clack...Can you hear the rhythm of the train? Langston Hughes did. Traveling to see his father in 1920, as he listened to the sounds of the train -- metal on metal, wheels on rails -- Hughes's imagination took flight. On that ride, he was inspired to write his first famous poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."This picture book tells the story of Langston Hughes's rise to accomplishing his dream of being a writer. With bold, striking illustrations by Leonard Jenkins, here is a book for any young person with a dream. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Required Reading in American Elementary Classrooms
I won this book at the Dexter Educational Foundation's annual Silent Auction, in February of 2007. It was in a basket of selected favorites of the faculty at Wylie Elementary School (grades 3 and 4). I bought the entire collection for $50, and am enjoying working my way through all the books.

This non-fiction narrative, describing the early life of Langston Hughes, and how he became inspired to write poetry, is a joy to read. Leonard Jenkins' jazz-like artwork blends well with Robert Burleigh's text, which in turn fits the style of Hughes himself.

Two thoughts ran through my mind, as I read it.

First, what a shame it is, when a young person knows that he or she was meant to do something like write poetry, or music, or teach, or create beautiful art; only to be discouraged by other trusted people that urge them to be "reasonable." How much beauty has been lost to the world, because of this?

Second, Hughes' linking of the Mississippi River to other Rivers, particularly the great Congo and Nile, of Africa, and from there to the blood flowing through our own veins, is a stunning reminder of how we all are connected. Rivers provide a wonderful illustration of that insight.

This book should be in every school classroom. I would place it in high schools as well as primary schools. I hope that American teachers use it to encourage children to follow their dreams, and their true life purpose.

I also hope that they can instill in American youth, a sense of pride of their own roots. My surname means, in old German "Little creek." I can look at creeks in a different way now. And we can teach the interconnectivity of all the people in the world. Ultimately, we all drink from the same river. The same blood flows through us all.

Langston Hughes was a great American. Few have ever illuminated our nation as honestly and accurately as he. His recognition of its ugliness is always tempered with love for it.

reads like poetry. . .
. . .and it is perfect to read out loud.this book should be in every elementary school library.

find inspiration in all things
This is a picture book biography of Langston Hughes.It tells us that he got inspiration for his first poem while listening to the sound of a train.He was on the way to visit his father in 1920.He starts to think of all the people who have seen these sights before him and what life might have been like for them.He writes his famous poem on a piece of scrap paper and the rest is history!

The book was written in picture book/ story book form. Although it was a non-fiction book it was fun and easy to read.


We would recommend this book to others who are interested in knowing more about Langston Hughes. This would be helpful to students who might be researching his life for school projects. ... Read more

Product Description
Tells the story of a leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s who devoted his life to writing about the black experience in America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great use as a Middle School Resource!!
I had a copy of the 1968 version of the Langston Hughes biography. It is a thorough in depth portrayal of Langston Hughes. Helped by his closeness to his subject, [Mr. Meltzer was friends with Langston, who died suddenly before this biography was completed] he had primary and secondary sources at hand that made this a personal, very detailed account of Langston's amazing, sometimes lonely, life. His use of poetry to punctuate certain points of Langston's life, in particular, the poem read at his wake, and the poetry written about lynchings, made these vignettes memorable and powerful. I recommend this book strongly to all readers who admire Langston Hughes. You may find yourself discovering facts about Langston of which you had no clue! Read it! ... Read more

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"Most Enjoyable Reading"
I enjoyed the reading of the "Simple Stories". Each one makes you want more and more. ... Read more

Product Description
This biography traces Hughes' life and artistic development, from his early years of isolation, which fostered his fierce independence, to his prolific life as a poet, playwright, lyricist, and journalist. Hughes' inspiring story is told through 21 engaging chapters, each providing a fascinating vignette of the artistic, personal, and political associations that shaped his life. Recounted are the pivotal developments in his literary career, with all its struggles and rewards, as well as his travel adventures to Africa, Europe, and Asia, and his political commitments to fight fascism as well as racism. ... Read more

Product Description
From the publication of his first book in 1926, Langston Hughes was hailed as the poet laureate of black America, the first to commemorate the experience of African Americans in a voice that no reader, black or white, could fail to hear. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, this volume is a treasure-an essential collection of the work of a poet whose words have entered our common language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A P0CKET FULL OF INSPIRATION
Everyman's Library of Pocket Poets presents an accessible collection of Langston Hughes' poems right before our finger tips. Culled from Hughes', "The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes", you are able to read and reflect upon some of the best of Hughes' work during a fifty year period.

Whether he's writing in the jazz or blues idiom, your soul will be touched by the magnificence of one of America's great poets. Some of his memorable poems are at your service. Deal with "The Weary Blues". Laugh at his critique in "To Certain Negro Leaders" and meditate on "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". Hughes will reach you intellectually and emotionally with his work.

I enjoyed this volume because of the poet, the format of the book (it is easy to carry around) and the broad range of poems it contains. It is indeed a pocket full of inspiration that you need to have and share with others. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

American poet
This is a very touching book for both children and adults alike. The portrait of America in another era is accurate and informative for young minds to understand how things were once upon atime. The biographical sketch relays the influnces early on in Langston Hughes life which shaped him to become one of the great poets of the twentieth century, in spite of racism. His father lived in Mexico and had a disregard for black people whoseperated himself to the extent of living in Mexico. Although he(Langston's father) did well for himself in Mexico he did not support his son. Themajor exception was sending him regretfully to Columbia University which Langston eventually dropped out of much to hisfathers displeasure. Hughes felt isolated and much more relaxed in nearby Harlem. Langston Hughes was a man of letters that he inherited from the story telling his grandmother told him. His love for his culture translated into many books of poetry. Alice Walkeris the writer of this children's book and the author of "The Color Purple," and was tremendously influenced by Hughes himself who she met as a college student.The illustrations are prettyrealistic and further document the story. The book is easy enough for youngsters and may also be good material for middle school readers who have not yet achieved grade level profiency. It is an inspirational story that may get a youngster motivated to write or read further.

An excellent picturebook biography
Catherine Deeter's paintings accompany this celebration of poet Langston Hughes' life, which reads like fiction as it surveys the influences on Hughes' career and the motivations behind his writings and life. An excellent picturebook biography, this requires reading skills but will appeal to grades 2-4. ... Read more

Product Description
February 1, 2002 marks the 100th birthday of Langston Hughes. To commemorate the centennial of his birth, Arnold Rampersad has contributed new Afterwords to both volumes of his highly-praised biography of this most extraordinary and prolific American writer.
The second volume in this masterful biography finds Hughes rooting himself in Harlem, receiving stimulation from his rich cultural surroundings. Here he rethought his view of art and radicalism, and cultivated relationships with younger, more militant writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Bakara. Rampersad's Afterword to volume two looks further into his influence and how it expanded beyond the literary as a result of his love of jazz and blues, his opera and musical theater collaborations, and his participation in radio and television. In addition, Rempersad explores the controversial matter of Hughes's sexuality and the possibility that, despite a lack of clear evidence, Hughes was homosexual.
Exhaustively researched in archival collections throughout the country, especially in the Langston Hughes papers at Yale University's Beinecke Library, and featuring fifty illustrations per volume, this anniversary edition will offer a new generation of readers entrance to the life and mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists.Amazon.com Review
Rampersad, one of our foremost African-American scholars, isan apt biographer for Hughes (1902-67), our greatest black poet.I, Too, Sing America (volume 1) covers the years during whichHughes produced his best work and was most politically active; Dream a World (volume 2) chronicles his artistic decline due tooverwork in= response to perpetual financial difficulties. Bothvolumes are psychologically astute, critically penetrating andmasterful in their intermingling of Hughes' story with a chronicle ofthe enormous changes that took place in black America during hislifetime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the Most Creative Minds to Grace the planet
Langston Hughes was a Poets Poet.he had words that were uplifting that took you to another time&Place.Arnold Rampersad does a great job of telling the story of Langston Hughes&showcasing the Greatness of His Writings.Langston Hughes was ahead of time&Very Gifted African-American Writer.He left behind Ground-Breaking work that still speaks volumes to this day.

Forever A Proud & Unblemished Icon!
Arnold Rampersad's LIFE OF LANGSTON HUGHESVolume 2 retains much of Hughes' evident black pride that is inescapable no matter the type of biography and critical analysis done on him and his body of work.Hughes wrote about many other things during his lifetime, but he mostly celebrated his African American culture without shame or apology.

Volume 2 picks up where the first left off.Langston Hughes is at the crossroads of a lived life.His career as a writer has stalled a bit, he has becomes disillusioned by the predominantely white left who rufuses to understand fully and acknowledge the plight of the black American, and he is ill.Eventually, his career begins to get back on track and Rampersad takes the reader along with Hughes through the rest of his life to his death in 1967.Langston reaches out to the rest of the world through his love for his fellow black Americans and their stories and concerns.He faces the McCarthy hearings successfully but with a slight change from the politcal rhetoric expressed so openly in the 1930's where he had merged racial pride with a radical socialism to insure that the left could not
exclude blacks from the agenda.He witnesses the rise of a new generation of black writers, some who pleased him and others who did not, some who loved and respected him and others who did not.He challeged them to be proud of their black American heritage in their writing but also to be objective in their evaluations.He felt the sting of some of these young black writers who felt that he was out of touch and not angry enough.And, he witnessed the return of appreciation from the outside world for his body of work and humanity.Despite a general dislike he held for white people, some wasn't as liked by him as they believed themselves to be, it never materialized into open hate as it did with many in the Black Power Movement.Rampersad provides the best example of this by recounting a moment of outright rage in Hughes where he raises his voice to express his frustration and anger toward white folks, "benevolent anger" as opposed to the "malignant anger" of many in the Black Power Movement.Hughe fully understood the error of blanketing all white people as the same in prejudice.

Arnold Rampersad depth of exhaustive research is evident in the facts he uncovers in Hughes's complicated character.And, some readers will be surprised by what they will read such as his understanding of the short comings of integration where African Americans would to a large degree abandon their own infrastructure instead of building on it to be more secure without self-segregation and imposed segregation from the outside.Rampersad presents Hughes as the human being with foibles and not just a mythic icon of African American and American literature in general.Perhaps willingly to some degree to keep money in the bank as he "sharecropped" his way through his long career, the reader will definitely come away with the knowledged that Hughes was a famous African American of his day being exploited, again to a degree, by the larger community.This is very evident in some of the working situations Hughes would have outside the black community.

Volume 2 is free of much of the rheteric that came dangerously close to blatent homophobia in Volume 1.Rampersad doesn't come out and declare Hughes as gay, but does make the surprising admission that Hughes had a preference for black men like the late Gilbert Price, and, especially dark skinned black men in his life as well as work.This dissonance between not wanting to identify Hughes as gay and Hughes's very evident preference for black men as discovered by Rampersad during his exhaustive research is pandemic among certain scholars who believe sexuality has no bearing on creativity, at lease when it comes to certain icons as Hughes is to black America.But, Rampersad isn't a homophobe and it is unfair to cast him as one. Rampersad is to be applauded for this admission that he could have conveniently suppressed but chose not to do.Kudos!!!! Rampersad comes across as wanting to declare Hughes as gay, but holds back allowing the reader to read the obvious between the lines by patently stating Hughes primary interest for other black men.Rampersad does make references to the women Hughes was only "friendly" with without the slighthest romantic interest, Hughes even going out of his way make it clear that he was not interested in them romantically.This can be attributed to the condition in the black communty where black gay men are often required to "pass" as straight (as done to the ultimate degree by fellow black gay members of the Harlem Renaissance: Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and Richard Bruce Nugent).

To me, Langston Hughes was and is a hero made to order! Hughes icon status still burns bright, beautifully, and unblemished for me and his other admirers regardless of any shortcomings and prejudices outside the love for his people.

A timeless piecework of art
This book has 425 pages in. It is wonderful and full of energy. It starts with one of Hughes poems and leads you down the ailes. The book is interesting, to the point and gives you enough information to find out more about how great Hughes is. I loved reading it and it gives you so much information to help you fully get to know Mr. Hughes. It is long but worth reading every page of it. I highly recommend reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description
I Wonder As I Wander is the second volume of Langston Hughes's autobiography, taking up where The Big Sea ended. Covering the period from his twenty-ninth year to his thirty-fifth year, this volume, which was originally published in 1956, is filled with vivid portraits of the people and places Hughes encountered during his travels around the world. ... Read more

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Product Description
Fourteen poems offer young readers an exciting glimpse into the life of Langston Hughes, one of America’s most beloved poets. Each poem explores important themes in Hughes’s life — his lonely childhood, his love of language and travel, and his dream of writing poetry. Color illustrations throughout and extensive notes at the back of the book expand upon the poems, giving a broader picture of Hughes’s life and the time in which he lived.Amazon.com Review
From one Harlem poet to another, Love to Langston is a tribute to one of America's most talented and beloved poets, Langston Hughes. Written in the art form Hughes cherished most, this biography in verse captures glimpses of the poet's world through his voice as author-poet Tony Medina imagines it. Readers will learn how young Langston was ridiculed in first grade by his teacher who "tells one kid / not to eat licorice / or he'll turn black / like me." In "I Do Not Like My Father Much," we discover that Hughes's father severed all contact with his son when he learned that he wanted to be a poet. There's even a poem about author Alice Walker bringing the ailing poet a bag of oranges when he was on his deathbed. Devotees of Langston Hughes and those who are meeting him for the first time will enjoy this accessible biography with striking acrylic illustrations by R. Gregory Christie. Medina and Christie also collaborated on DeShawn Days. (Ages 5 to 10) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A New, Fresh Batch of Poetry
Upon opening this exciting book,I was drawn into the bright colors and the words that were simple, yet quite powerful.As an elementary school teacher, I was looking for poetry to share with my students that was beyond the same few it seems they see year after year during February.This fit the bill perfectly. It was language my children could relate to, yet it showed some insight into important issues such as racism, segregation, and slavery. The added bonus for me was the additional text about how each poem related to Langston Hughes' life.In the book, Mr. Medina mentions that as a child, he opened one of Langston Hughes' books of poetry and saw his photograph.Not only was he moved by his work, he was pleasantly surprised and inspired because he saw an artist of color in a published work for the first time. Since then, he has been inspired to create poetry. Tony Medina has given us a beautiful tribute to Mr. Hughes as well as fresh poems for new generation!

THOSE WORDS "HITSMYHEART !"
Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 (in Joplin MO), and his centennial was celebrated with the publication of books honoring his poetry & life, including "Langston Hughes, an American Poet" by Alice Walker . . . & also, "Love to Langston" by Tony Medina.

For this book the author writes poems in a style similar to Hughes' - - each being biographical. These are followed by three pages of helpful notes. Some of the dates make for surprises: In 1914 Hughes protested against "JIM CROW SEATING" in his 7th grade! In 1923 he began an odyssey to learn about the world firsthand, starting with Africa: "going around the world digging life, . . mining for riches" by observing people.

His poetry was influenced by Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg, but also by the rhythms of jazz. "Jazz makes me sing - - the blues makes me feel . . . a whole lot better . . . hits my heart in the funny bone." The bold colorful illustrations by Gregory Christie are a happy choice and complement Medina's hopeful text. This happened, too, with the 1982 "Langston, A Play by Ossie Davis" for which Jerry Pinkney illustrated the cover.

In the 1950s the specter of Senator Joseph McCarthy threatened Hughes' ability to earn a living. He was quite ill in 1967 when "dear sweet Alice (Walker)" one of the young authors inspired by his works, visited him: " ... she brings me oranges like a bag of sun." The sun can also shine into your heart through reading Langston Hughes' poetry, suggests REVIEWER mcHAIKU.

Introducing Langston Hughes.....
Meet James Langston Hughes in a unique and entertaining biography that brings this great poet of the Harlem Renaissance to life.Written in free verse, Tony Medina's fourteen poems follow Langston from his boyhood in Kansas marked by racism and poverty, to his trips to Africa and around the world, and finally to life in his beloved Harlem..."Harlem is the capital of my world/black and beautiful and bruised/like me..."Mr Medina's simple, yet powerful poems speak volumes, and are full of energy, rhythm, wisdom, and truth."In Topeka, Kansas/the teacher makes me sit/in the corner/in the last row/far away from/the other kids// She rolls her eyes/and sucks her teeth/with heavy heavy sighs/and lies and lies// She tells one kid/not to eat licorice/or he'll turn black/like me// When Mama finds out/she takes me out of school/she rolls her eyes/and sucks her teeth/with heavy heavy sighs// And why why why"R. Gregory Christie's expressive, bold, and riveting illustrations complement each poem beautifully, and draw the reader into the world Langston Hughes loved and remembered.Together word and art present an engaging and evocative tribute to a remarkable and vibrant man who loved people, books, and jazz.This is much more than a creative and innovative biography, it's a labor of love.Perfect for youngsters 7 and older, Mr Medina includes notes, details, and insight to help flesh out, complete, and enrich these original poems about Langston Hughes' life, and introduce Hughes and his work to a whole new generation. This engaging biography is sure to whet the appetite of both young and old alike, and send you out looking for more.So come celebrate the life of Langston Hughes on what would have been his one hundredth birthday..."Sometimes life ain't/always a hoot/or a holler// But if you manage/to give it/a bother// Even if you miss/your mother/or don't like your father// There'll be better days/up ahead// A whole mess of/happenin' days/up ahead// You can sit and sulk/suck your teeth/and sigh// Or love and laugh/and live life/by and by" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Letters that open a window of time.
This is one of the most touching, endearing books I have ever been blessed to read.Think of it!For forty-two years Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes wrote letters to each other---literally thousands of letters.From 1925 to 1967, when Mr. Hughes passed away---a period of astounding historical events, during which they wrote.Both men were born in 1902, and met in Harlem in 1924 when attending a poetry reading of Countee Cullen's.They became friends immediately, soon collaborating on their first of several successful books written together.Within the pages of these letters is a treasure trove.The wealth of information is incredibile.We begin during the Harlem Renaissance...then the south and New York City during the Depression...from this, World War II, followed by the many events of the fifties and sixties.Throughout it all, the men are struggling both as writers, and as African Americans during a time of horrendous Jim Crow and lynching.But the horrors of such discriminations do not defeat them...with untold courage and dignity both writers plunge onward.By the time both men reached retirement age, they each had become so famous that universities were diligently seeking to obtain their letters!Charles Nichols who selected and edited their letters here, writes a wonderful introduction about the lives of both men.Aside from a really neat chronology following the letters, the whole of the book is dedicated to the letters.There is so much here, folks. This is one, very awesome book, and I highly recommend it to anyone. ... Read more

Product Description
Jesse B. Simple, Simple to his fans, made weekly appearances beginning in 1943 in Langston Hughes's column in the Chicago Defender. This collection contains 62 of Hughes's magnificent Simple stories, many never before published in book form. "A lively collection . . . funny-but-wise."--Robert O'Meally, New York Newsday. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Yallo!This is a great review...read it!
Hughes really takes advantage of his natural African-American 'relaxed & jazzy' instincts in these works.Enjoy ... Read more

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1 Video Tape. Langston Hughes wrote of the beauty, dignity, and heritage of blacks in America. Interviews, music, and dance performances convey his work and influence, discussed by James Baldwin and biographer Arnold Rampersad. 60 Minutes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

This is the voice of the poet ...

The Voice of The Poet Series continues to deliver with the Langston Hughes collection which is engrossing and incredible.

This is a CD and Book package that spans the entire career of Langston Hughes's work that was recorded on tape in different settings throughout the years. The book is small, clean and well-presented making it easy for the reader to follow along with the disc.

Langston not only delivers some very straight-forward readings of his work, but does a fair bit of story-telling and warmly lapses into casual conversation in several spots. There is a lot of biographical information in between the poetry which is worth the cost of the set alone. I found this set warm and engaging from beginning to end and wished that there was more.

After looking around on the Internet, I've come to discover that these recordings have been repackaged on compact disc before but without the book and without some of the biographical musings, however, this is the set to buy without any doubt. The recordings are clear, crisp and without static, interference or fading, unlike some of the other products.

If you've never heard Langston Hughes's voice before, get this. If you've never heard him read aloud his poetry and tell parts of his life story, get this. If you've gotten any of the other offerings from 'The Voice of The Poet' series ... get this.


... ...

Hughes has been recorded?
HUGHES HAS BEEN RECORDED?That was my first reaction when I went to the library and found this CD.The pleasure I got listening to Langston Hughes reading his work in a relaxed non rehearsed atmosphere was one of the most thrilling experiences I'd had the pleasure of experiencing in months.I can't wait to share this with my family and discuss the contents. Any one who enjoys poetry, social commentary and history will enjoy this CD.

Fascinating Poetry and History!!!
I am an author and a poet. Langston Hughes' style of poetry is simply amazing. This CD gives a historical rendition on the era of his childhood, school years, work experiences and poetic growth. His world travels certainly expanded his vision of life and impacted positively on his writings. The enlightenment of his trip to Africa resulted in the poem "My People." This poem has a fascinating view of Africa, the people, and Hughes' connection with them. His articulation of the poem "Mother to Son" is amazing. He shows another side of life and how one's vision influences the rearing of a child. One of the greatest poems on the CD is "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." This was written while taking a trip to Mexico to visit his father. In this piece he gives a visionary perspective and uses the art of personification to make the connection of his people, history, and life from a historical standpoint. The poem "Words Like Freedom' and "Tomorrow" will touch the heart of the reader. The stories on the CD are awesome. The reflection he gives of life during his younger years certainly is a distinctive comparison from then to now, especially highlighting how individuals were treated based on the color of their skin. This CD is a must have for one's poetry library. This is not just a CD of poetry it is also a CD of history.Also check "Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul" with the new selection of Epulaeryu poems.

Voice of a Hero!!! to Me
Humor, anger, and all the eloquence of the black experience in America is to be found in some of the poems presented here on this audio cd from the THE VOICE OF THE POET SERIES:LANGSTON HUGHES.Also presented is commentary inserted in-between Hughes reading of his poems.You get the background of how a certain poem came into being.You get Hughes talking about his childhood and racial pride.You get Hughes voice, soft, sort of high pitched, and inviting.MY LORD,MERRY-GO-ROUND, THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS, JUDGEMENT DAY,MY PEOPLE,WHEN SUE WEARS RED, and FIRE are a few of the poems recited on this cd by Hughes.For those able to do so, I recommend purchasing the audio tape, LANGSTON HUGHES READS HIS POETRY, because this cd truncates some of Hughes commentary and poems.

It does a disservice to Hughes to dismiss much of his body of work as "wry" to make a particular audience more comfortable with it. It does a similar disservice to Hughes' integrity to ignore that both his parents were black and play up distant white blood to make him more palatable, so-called universal,to the larger audiencences prejudices (most of black America share his same distant bloodlines). One of Hughes's biographers said you cannot respect Hughes without respecting black American people and their culture in the U.S.To disrespect one is to do so to both. Hughes's black pride permeates his so-called race poems and poems of social protest from the 30s and the vast majority of his work in general.

Langston Hughes showed his anger and bitterness toward the injustices of racism as he sharecropped his way among many different genres of the arts as a proud and unflinching black American.His genius, and lesson, was that he did not allow this bitternerss and anger to cause him to hate or infuse his body of work with hate.He may not have liked some in gerneral, but he "never, never" hated.Hughes had to much humanity in him to reward hate with hate.Even in his anger, Hughes could be benevolent.Hughes did not hesitate to like anyone who showedrespect and gestures of friendship to him and his people.His lesson to black artists was be proud of their heritage in their work and not run away from it for a quick profit and famein catering to the prejudices of the larger community beyond that ofblack America. His lesson was also that they should not be
consumed with anger and bitterness even though they had a right to be angry because through their words a world could be enlightened and made better.

Here in THE VOICE OF THE POET:LANGSTON HUGHES,as other works by Hughes, a man is revealedwho was oftenangry and bitter, but who never lost sight that there was some good in the world worth fightiing for. This makes him a writer to be universally admired by everyone regardless of race, religion, and whatever.

His Soul Was Deep Like a River
This is a terrific addition to the Voice of the Poet series. Langston Hughes doesn't just read his poems; he talks about their genesis and about his life. For all the ugliness of Jim Crow, he never sounds bitter, but he tells the whole truth, doesn't sugarcoat anything. My one tiny disappointment is that in the book the format was changed on a couple of poems due to space constraints. This CD is worth it just for his story of how he became a poet. I listen to lots of audio poetry and this is one of the best collections I've ever found. You can't miss. ... Read more

Product Description
While his short stories and two autobiographies, The Big Sea and I Wonder as I Wander, remain very readable, the permanent fame of Langston Hughes is assured by his poetry. The title examines the author's poetry, including his use of simplicity and humanistic techniques.

This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. The lives of the greatest writers of the world are explored in the new series Bloom’s BioCritiques. In addition to a lengthy biography, each book includes an extensive critical analysis of the writer’s work, as well as critical views by important literary critics throughout history. These volumes are the perfect introduction to critical study of the important authors currently read and discussed in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools. ... Read more