"This biography explores the life of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), a major nineteenth-century American poet and one of the first African American writers to garner international attention and praise in the wake of emancipation. While Dunbar is perhaps best known for poems such as "Sympathy" (a poem that ends "I know why the caged bird sings!") and "We Wear the Mask," he wrote prolifically in many genres, including a newspaper he produced with...

"Admired by George Washington, ridiculed by Thomas Jefferson, published in London, and read far and wide, Phillis Wheatley led one of the most extraordinary American lives. Seized in West Africa and forced into slavery as a child, she was sold to a merchant family in Boston, where she became a noted poet at a young age. Mastering the Bible, Greek and Latin translations, and the works of Pope and Milton, she composed elegies for local elites, celebrated...

"One of the founding fathers of multicultural studies, Ishmael Reed first came to the attention of the literary world as a poet. Despite success as a novelist, playwright, essayist, and recording artist, he has never ceased to write poetry, delving into waters spiritual and political with his own unexpected and uniquely powerful voice. New and Collected Poems, 1964-2006 captures four decades of Reed's inimitable vision, an ongoing journey from New...