In the words of Seale the book "...continues to have a universal apppeal as an account of an oppressed people's struggle for human liberation."

    As he hovers between life and death, Baldwin shows the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable.  For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the intoxicating world of the theater lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. An adored older brother vanishes into prison. There are love affairs with a white woman and a younger black man, each of whom will make irresistible claims on Leo's loyalty. And everywhere there is the anguish of being black in a society that at times seems poised on the brink of total racial war. Overpowering in its vitality, extravagant in the intensity of its feeling, Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone is a major work of American literature.

    In its 720 pages is the core of the black literary heritage of America, ranging from slavery days to the post-Martin Luther King era. It includes fiction, poetry, autobiography and criticism by forty-four men and women who rank among the most talented writers - black or white - that this country has produced. If there is room in your budget for only one anthology of black American literature, BLACK VOICES should be your choice.

    

    And as the Englishman became the colonial, and then the revolutionary patriot, and finally the citizen of a new nation, seeking to find his identity in a new land, he created chattel slavery and was in turn confronted by it.White Over Black is Winthrop D. Jordan's masterly study of that process, from the 16th century through the early years of the Republic.

    Here, too, is the impassioned social reformer, speaking out on such subjects as respect for law, order and justice; violence and police brutality; the breakdown of Negro families; civil disobedience and other vital issues [excerpted from back cover blurb]

    A reflective, moving account in which, with grace and clarity, Dr. Du Bois revised and incorporated his earlier works and added new sections.