Ishmael Reed's Books
Apr.05.2011
A new novel from the most outspoken African-American writer of our time.
In 2010, the Newseum in Washington D.C. finally obtained the suit O. J. Simpson wore in court the day he was acquitted, and it now stands as both an artifact in their "Trial of the Century" exhibit and a symbol of the American media's endless hunger for the criminal and the celebrity. This event...
Jul.08.2008
A new collection of essays first published in The New York Times and Playboy. Reed tackles subjects including Oakland, eugenics, and domestic violence.
Jul.05.2007
First poetry collection in nearly twenty years. In language that is pointed, innovative and profoundly optimistic, Reed weaves politics and war with Nigerian poetry and jazz all in the service of his continual redefinition of American culture.
Jan.06.2005
Despite the rabble-rousing subtitle, remarkable novelist and critic Reed offers far more than the erudite, colloquial confrontationalism with which he is often pigeon-holed. Essays sometimes focus on the virtues of crucial cultural figures, like Quincy Troupe, or contest divisive works by black intellectuals, such as Nigger. But the book, communicative and direct, remains at every...
Dec.10.2002
Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip-Hop—a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology—a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This important collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging...
Apr.24.2001
Essays, poems, two plays, and excerpts from novels sample the witty satire and politically charged storytelling and cultural criticism that has made Reed one of the best known U.S. writers. His settings include the Harlem Renaissance, antebellum plantations, the mythical never-never land of the American west, and fantastic kingdoms of the future.
Jul.01.2000
In this duo from 1974 and 1969, respectively, Reed takes on two great American genres—the private detective story and the Western. A satiric look at 1960s politics, Louisiana Red follows private eye Papa LaBas as he investigates the murder of the owner of a gumbo joint. Yellow Back is more of a parody of a Western than a true white hat/black hat shoot-’em-up; it is presented in an...
Aug.01.1996
Reed’s satire of academia as cultural battleground takes on targets ranging from Eurocentrism to antiporn feminists. – Publishers Weekly
Jun.11.1996
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 pre-eminent 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...
May.22.1995
Oakland Rhapsody unites the talents of Richard Nagler, an award-winning photographer, and Ishmael Reed, a respected American novelist, essayist, and poet. Through photography and prose, they focus on downtown Oakland and create a compelling visual and literary portrait of a major American city as it nears the turn of the century. Downtown Oakland is special. Within a walk of just a...
Dec.01.1991
Since 1976 the Before Columbus Foundation has been devoted to the task of redefining our notion of “mainstream” American literature to reflect this country’s multicultural, multiethnic richness and diversity. Since 1980 it has sponsored the American Book Awards. This anthology, edited by Ishmael Reed, includes thirty selections from a decade of award-winning fiction.
Aug.12.1976
Ishmael Reed proves he's a formidable historical novelist in this sharp, wildly funny slave's-eye-view of the Civil War. Three slaves infected with Dysaethesia Aethipica (a term coined in the nineteenth century for the disease that makes black people run away) escape from Virginia.
About Ishmael
Author of twenty-eight published books to date, Ishmael Reed is a novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist. He is also a publisher, editor of thirteen anthologies and numerous magazines, television producer, public media commentator, teacher and...