Synopses & Reviews
This first comprehensive collection of Margaret Walker's autobiographical and literary essays has been acclaimed as "a powerful social history and as a serious study of black American literature."-Kirkus Review In the title essay, Walker recounts the search for family and social history from which she wrote her carefully researched novel of the Civil War. The autobiographical essays reflect on her work and her life as an artist, as African-American, and a woman, while the literary essays examine the writings of such giants as Richard Wright, W.E.B. DuBois, Phyllis Wheatley, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and others. "Spanning a half-century (1943to 1988), these brilliant, intimate writings capture the flavor of the times and powerfully convey the social and literary thoughts that distinguishes Walker as one of the intellectual beacons of her generation."-Booklist
Synopsis
In this first comprehensive collection of autobiographical and literary essays, Margaret Walker--described by Booklist as "one of the intellectual beacons of her generation"--recounts the search for family and social history from which she wrote her carefully researched novel of the Civil War. The autobiographical essays reflect on her work and her life as an artist, an African American, and a woman, while the literary essays examine the writings of such giants as Richard Wright, W. E. B. DuBois, Phillis Wheatley, and others.