Mumbo Jumbo

The Classic Freewheeling Look at Race Relations Through the Ages

Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African-American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture.

The Boston Globe Brilliant, phantasmal, eccentric...A visionary comic myth.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Author of Colored people From its title on, Mumbo Jumbo serves as a critique of black and Western literary forms and conventions, and of the complex relationships between the two.

The Saturday Review A "HooDoo" thriller, an all-out assault on Western civilization...Reed's best novel.

James Baldwin A great writer.

James BaldwinA great writer.

The New York Times Part vision, part satire,part farce...A wholly original, unholy cross between the craft of fiction and witchcraft.

The 50th anniversary edition of the classic, freewheeling novel by one of the most iconic satirists of our time--now with a new introduction by the author.

"Part vision, part satire, part farce... A wholly original, unholy cross between the craft of fiction and witchcraft." --The New York Times

It is the 1920s in New York City and an epidemic known as Jes Grew is sweeping the nation--a dancing plague, irresistible, joyful, and undeniably Black. Naturally, the powers-that-be are having none of it. A repressive conspiracy is operating in the shadows, and it is dead set on squelching Jes Grew and its Carriers--Black artists and musicians--by any means necessary.

So begins the classic novel by Ishmael Reed, the iconic satirist whose contributions to American literature have drawn praise from the likes of James Baldwin and Harold Bloom. Mumbo Jumbo is an ingenious deconstruction of Western civilization--a cinematic collage that mixes portraits of historical figures and incidents with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Now with a new introduction by the author, this timeless and crucial work of twentieth-century fiction is ready to be discovered by a new generation of readers.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-223).

Ishmael Reed, a novelist, poet, essayist, and activist, is the author of more than a dozen books. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth and is currently a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Oakland, California.