Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor (Paperback)

~ Paul Beatty (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed novelist Beatty (Tuff; White Boy Shuffle) models this controversial anthology on a "mix-tape narrative dubbed by a trusted... friend." Like a mix-tape, the collection is intensely personal: its encompassing feature is the bright, plaintive, scathingly ironic voice that introduces the volume and its various sections. Beatty, who "was the butt of the first joke [he'd] ever heard," mines two centuries of African-American culture for speeches, poems, fiction, comics and screenplays that mirror his own glass-cutting wit and satisfy, in places, his taste for "unintentional comedy." (To wit, "The Wit and Wisdom of Mike Tyson.") Apart from usual suspects like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, a Norton anthology this is not. Selections from Fran Ross and Prophet Omega dizzy readers in their logical funhouses. Hattie Gossett's "80s Version of the Dozens" leads them through sewer pipes of lyrical imagination. The volume's general tenor is wild, winking and explosive. As such, it picks up where Chappelle's Show left off—gouging the government, lampooning cultures black and white, leaving no sacred cow unslaughtered. Even the smiling watermelon on the book's front cover has been retained despite sniffs by national media outlets. "This is black humor," Beatty writes, "and I don't mean African-American black." Indeed, at times—as when John Farris's schoolchildren blithely gun down pedestrians—you may need night-vision goggles to find the joke. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Selected and introduced by acclaimed novelist and poet Paul Beatty, Hokum is a liberating, eccentric, savagely comic collection of the funniest writing by black Americans.

This book is less a comprehensive collection of African-American humor than a mix-tape narrative dubbed by a trusted friend—a sampler of underground classics, rare grooves, and timeless summer jams, poetry and prose juxtaposed with the blues, hip-hop, political speeches, and the world’s funniest radio sermon. The subtle musings of Toni Cade Bambara, Henry Dumas, and Harryette Mullen are bracketed by the profane and often loud ruminations of Langston Hughes, Darius James, Wanda Coleman, Tish Benson, Steve Cannon, and Hattie Gossett. Some of the funniest writers don’t write, so included are selections from well-known yet unpublished wits Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mike Tyson, and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Selections also come from public figures and authors whose humor, although incisive and profound, is often overlooked: Malcolm X, Suzan-Lori Parks, Zora Neale Hurston, Sojourner Truth, and W.E.B. Dubois. Groundbreaking, fierce, and hilarious, this is a necessary anthology for any fan or student of American writing, with a huge range and a smart, political grasp of the uses of humor.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (January 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596911484
• ISBN-13: 978-1596911482
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's OK if I like this book too, right?, April 19, 2006

By	Frank Clover (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor (Hardcover)

Just wondering. As a (typically?) paranoid Anglo-American, I may not "get" the secret messages in many of the selections that may or may not be there for an African-American reader, but I found most of the selections in this anthology hilarious. If it inspires anyone of any hyphenation to read complete works by Ishmael Reed or Chester Himes, it will have more than served its purpose.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ha ha, July 16, 2009

By	M. H. DAWKINS-ROSE (ATL, HOE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

the anthology;s breadth is stunning, insofar as what counts as black, what counts as funny. in the forward Beatty says, if memory is true, that it's like a mixtape--reading the bits compiled on the 'playlist' give you a feeling of what informs Beatty's writing. Another bonus is almost none of this stuff is canonical; this publication is a treasure--from negritude to you!