The Greenwood Encyclopedia Of African American Literature

With more than 1,000 entries by more than 200 expert contributors, this encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference available on African American literature. While most of the entries are on individual authors, the encyclopedia gives special attention to the historical, cultural, and political contexts that have shaped African American writing. Included are entries on critical movements and terms, critics and scholars, historical and social issues, cultural and historical figures, literary forms and genres, literary schools and organizations, and many other topics. The entries cite numerous print and electronic resources, and the encyclopedia concludes with a selected, general bibliography.

Hans Ostrom is Professor of English at the University of Puget Sound, where he teaches literature, creative writing, and rhetoric. He has published a novel and a book of poems and is also the author ofLangston Hughes: A Study of the Short Fiction (1993) and A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia (Greenwood, 2002).

J. David Macey Jr. is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he currently serves as Assistant Chair of the department. He previously taught at Vanderbilt University and the University of Puget Sound.