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."

    The poems are written in clear, straightforward free verse. Here is an example of his style from "The Chinese Checker Players": "When I was six years old/I played Chinese checkers/with a woman/who was ninety-three years old."Recurrent themes in the book include love, sex, loss & loneliness. Incorporated throughout are an intriguing mix of pop & 'high' culture references: Jefferson Airplane, Ophelia, the New York Yankees, John Donne etc. The book often has an earthy flavor. He writes about such topics as his own penis or the smell of a fart. Some particularly memorable poems include the following:"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace," a sci-fi vision of a "cybernetic meadow"; the open-ended "Karma Repair Kit: Items 1-4"; "Discovery," a joyful poem about sexual intimacy; the surreal "The Pumpkin Tide"; the funny, haiku-like "November 3"; & "A Good-Talking Candle," which invites readers into altered states of perception. Altho most of the poems are very short, there is one longer poem: the 9-part, 9-page "the Galilee Hitch-hiker," which chronicles the surreal adventures of Baudelaire — among other experiences, he opens an unconventional hamburger stand in San Francisco. If you only know Brautigan from his weird & wonderful novels, read this collection.-Michael Mazza (edited)

    This book contains five all-but-forgotten speeches from the end of King's life, including "Youth and Action" and "Nonviolence and Social Change".Reaching far beyond his earlier agenda of sit-ins and marches, King reveals here his deepest yearning: the renewal of our apathetic and destructive society through a massive sea-change of hearts.

    From the appearance in 1936 of Kenneth Patchen's first book, the voice of this great poet has been protesting war and social injustice, satirizing the demeaning and barbarous inanities of our culture--entrancing us with an inexhaustible flow of humor and fantasy.

    

    Upon hearing her sing, Jasper Ankle becomes her deepest admirer, undaunted by perilous weather and abject poverty in his quest to hear her sing. As Ortenzia's star rises, Jasper sinks further into despair, until performer and fan collide in true Edward Gorey fashion. Exquisitely illustrated with Gorey's signature pen-and-ink crosshatching, The Blue Aspic is a heart-wrenching and oddly hilarious tale of unrequited love and the dangers of celebrity.Treasured by adoring fans since its original release in 1968, The Blue Aspic remains an iconic masterpiece from the one and only great Mr. Gorey.

    McPherson's characters — gritty, jazzy, authentic, and pristinely rendered — give voice to unheard struggles along the dividing lines of race and poverty in subtle, fluid prose that bears no trace of sentimentality, agenda, or apology.

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

    In their obsessions, Gass’s Midwestern dreamers are like the "grotesques" of Sherwood Anderson, but in their hyper-linguistic streams of consciousness, they are the match for Joyce’s Dubliners. First published in 1968, this book begins with a beguiling thirty-three page essay and has five fictions: the celebrated novella "The Pedersen Kid," "Mrs. Mean," "Icicles," "Order of Insects," and the title story.

    From the appearance in 1936 of Kenneth Patchen's first book, the voice of this great poet has been protesting war and social injustice, satirizing the demeaning and barbarous inanities of our culture--entrancing us with an inexhaustible flow of humor and fantasy.

    As rendered by Gaines, this country becomes as familiar, and as haunted by cruelty, suffering, and courage, as Ralph Ellison's Harlem or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County.STORIES INCLUDE:A Long Day in NovemberThe Sky Is GrayThree MenBloodlineJust Like a Tree

    A fourteen-year-old girl tries to reconcile her dreams and hopes for the future with the harsh and often unpleasant realities of life in the African American section of town.

    Her readers will see, by flipping the pages, that it's just Great-aunt Fanny and her friend Chester. Iris finally gets glasses and sees things in a different--and clearer--way! Four-color and black-and-white illustrations.

    Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

    Roxanne leaves the farm she grew up on to spend a summer following in her mother's footsteps working for a circus, although as a seamstress not a performer.

    She loathes herself for being poisoned by capitalist society and its pleasures. A schizophrenic outlook emerges, because Sontag believes that she has found paradise in Hanoi. She forgives herself for the grievous sin of reaping benefits of her own society, which she hates. She is just a radical leftist weirdo, who would not survive 48 hours in the society which she idolizes.

    --Antiqbook.com -- Clifford Odets, S.N. Behrman, Robert Sherwood, John Steinbeck, William Saroyan--Five famous American plays of the 1930s: 1) "Awake and Sing"--Odets' rebellious and compassionate story of a struggling Jewish family in the Bronx. 2) "End of Summer"--Behrman's spirited comedy about a beautiful woman of the idle rich confronted with reality and the challenge of a new generation. 3) "Idiot's Delight"--Sherwood's prophetic and tragicomic commentary on the mad game of war. 4) "Of Mice and Men"--Steinbeck's famous story about two lonely, itinerant workers, a homeless halfwit and his friend George, whose dream ends in tragedy. 5) "The Time of Your Life"--Saroyan's delightful portrayal of a group of bizarre unfortunates who inhabit a San Francisco waterfront saloon. -- amazon.com