The Wiley Blackwell Anthology of African American Literature, Volume 1

“While anthologies, particularly in coverage of periods the most distant from our own, tend to suffer from a difficulty in having individual works maintain conversation with one another, Professor Jarrett’s new anthology performs this task with ease.  Each example in every genre is carefully chosen; some are new works that have been often discussed, but rarely anthologized.  The entirety is a rich presentation of African American literature to the student, a welcoming introduction for the general reader, and a ready resource for scholars.”
—Nathan L. Grant, African American Review

"Expansive, instructive, fascinating and surprising, this magnificent anthology is pieced together with superb editorial judgment and offers insights on every page. Here is a rich, many-voiced literary tradition unfolding across the centuries in all its exhilarating diversity and unmatched power. Certain to become seminal and essential, this is a treasure that belongs on all our bookshelves." 
—Zoe Trodd, University of Nottingham

"A deeply and dynamically qualitative engagement with the complex history of African American literary expression, from its broad, interconnecting roots through to its diverse socio-political outlook. As Gene Andrew Jarrett attests, this is not an encyclopedic volume, nor does it intend to be: instead, Jarrett provides the reader with a cogent and memorable seminar in the intellectual history of U.S. Black creative expression. Essential analyses of style, genre, and artistic revolutions are present here, allowing each selection to retain its unique contribution even while locating it within collective movements. For instructors, this anthology will provide even neophytes with a rich, layered, and nuanced understanding of a grand tradition; for scholars and lay readers alike, this anthology offers a new yet grounded take on a literature and a people three centuries old yet always in the making and (re)making." 
—Michelle M. Wright, Northwestern University

"The Wiley-Blackwell Anthology of African American Literature is a welcome new intervention, full of strikingly fresh choices and featuring as many works in their entirety, and as many longer selections of major works, as possible.  These volumes will help recast the vast range of U.S. black writing for a generation to come." 
—Eric Lott, University of Virginia