Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), a legend in twentieth-century African American literature and the Harlem Renaissance, has influenced such writers as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Toni Cade Bambara. She was a novelist, folklorist, playwright, and anthropologist whose fictional and factual accounts of black heritage are considered by many to be unparalleled.
Her books include "Tell My Horse," "Mules and Men," "Dust Tracks on a Road," and "Mule Bone." "Their Eyes Were Watching God," however, is generally acknowledged to be Hurston's finest work of fiction. Still, it was controversial. Richard Wright once called the book "counter-revolutionary" in a New Masses article while Alice Walker has said, "There is no book more important to me than this one."
Listen to MP3 excerpt of "Mules and Men," read by actress Ruby Dee and courtesy of HarperAudio.
T-Love: "Long Way Back" Female rapper T-Love revisits hip-hop's golden era
with playful, politically progressive lyrics over tight beats and jazzy riffs. By Celeste Dawn Mitchell
Watchers: "To the Rooftops" This Chicago art-punk quintet supplies a sophisticated blend of funk rhythms, synthesized strings and crunchy guitar slices. By Rob Young
Antipop Consortium vs. Matthew Shipp Two outstanding releases in the avant-jazz Blue Series, plus the solo debut by APC rapper Beans, take hip-hop/jazz fusion to new places. By Ehren Gresehover
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