Blacks (Paperback)

by Gwendolyn Brooks (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Here is a necessary collection of poetry for admirers of words and treasurers of literary beauty. Spanning more than 30 years, this collection of literary masterpieces by the venerable Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, arguably Illinois' most beloved Poet Laureate and Chicago's elder black literary stateswoman, Blacks includes all of Ms. Brooks' critically acclaimed writings. Within its covers is the groundbreaking "Annie Allen," which earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. There is also the sweepingly beautiful and finely crafted "A Street in Bronzeville," a highly anticipated and lauded poetic treasure that spoke volumes for this great poet's love of black people, Chicago's Black community, and even the community of the world. Blacks includes a special treat, Maud Martha, Brooks' only novel.

About the Author

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize (1950). She was also the poetry consultant for the Library of Congress and the Poet Laureate of Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Third World Press (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883781050
• ISBN-13: 978-0883781050
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #232,237 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweeping and Epic, March 18, 2000

By	Aurin Squire (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

Gwendolyn Brooks is one of my favorite poets and this anthology of her work gives a glimpsing answer to the question 'why?' "Blacks" is a veritae encyclopedia of the America experience written in Brooks' lucid but unsettling style.

It's people like T.S Eliot which make us think art is an inclusive privilege of a born, elite few. And then artists -like Brooks- go right along and prove that, at its best, art is inclusive, fun and thought-provoking. Rather than tying itself up in esoteric knots, Brooks' poetry flows along personal but recognizable paths that most blacks have experienced at one time or another.

I go to Northwestern U. and we've had the privilege of her speaking at our school many times. And after meeting her my respect only grew.

Forever "young, gifted and black" Gwedolyn Brooks deserves nothing less than the attention given to the likes of Langston Hughes or Phylis Wheatley. This books shows us why.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Late Great American Writer's Collection of Standards, December 13, 2004

By	Lou "battlecatsudi" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Its been a few years since I thought about this book. I was searching around suggested items from Amazon, and memories of this great writer came rushing back to me. This book is a collection of poems, short stories, a novel, highlights from several decades of excellent writing. I wish Chicago would do more to honor her like Europe honors their great writers regardless of race. Anyway, Ms. Brook's poetry is influenced by the classical literature she studied during her time and she takes that style to the south side of inner city of black Chicago. The results are poems that feel quiet, calm, much like the demeanor she displayed when she was alive. However she can communicate anger, depression , anguish, without hitting you across the head with it. This changes a little when you read through some of her sixtites work such as the "Riot" which describes the riot in the sixties after Dr. King was assasinated. I find myself missing her reading "We real cool" but at least I have this and other books from her memory alive in me.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent poetry, June 8, 2003

By	Glen Engel Cox "www.engel-cox.org" (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A collection of poetry by Brooks, probably the most honored African- American poet. It also includes "Maud Martha," Brooks' single novel to date. I liked the novel, but felt it was a little too much for me. I like poetry, but I think I like it in small doses, where I can relax and read and reread it without concentrating on how much time it is taking me to do so. Her fiction is like poetry, in the sense that it had as much to do with the vision of things as it did with the characterization or the plot. This is my failing as a reader: I've never cared that much for description, and the longer it continues, the more likely I am to tune out.

But the short poems here, especially from her earlier period, I like a lot. The subjects are strong and powerful, the economy and purpose of the prose admirable. One of my favorites was a poem called "Queen of the Blues," which contrasted the stage persona of a Billie Holliday-like singer with the treatment she receives as an African-American woman. Queen or no queen, she still has the blues. Or "The Murder," about a young boy who sits his toddler brother on fire then doesn't understand when the little brother isn't around afterwards. I did not care as much for her later poems, which were much more experimental in form and harder to follow in content.