AMAZING GRACE: An Anthology of Poems About Slavery, 1660–1810

This enormous, in some ways groundbreaking, anthology shows the range and depth of verse about the captivity, enslavement and sometime freedom of peoples of African descent in the English-speaking world, from 1660 (when Britain restored its monarchy) to 1810 (just after Britain banned the Atlantic slave trade). Basker is a professor of English at Columbia and an 18th-century scholar and expert on antislavery movements. Among the 400 poems by more than 250 authors here, he includes whole published works—lyric, expository and narrative—along with excerpts from long poems and verse-dramas. Some excerpts seem forced, touching on Africa, Africans or slavery only in passing. Mostly, however, the poems hit home; though many are stylistically unremarkable (and resemble one another), almost all have some historical or human interest. Verse from Defoe, Johnson and Wordsworth stands alongside many more poems—from hymns to romances—by relative unknowns. Michael Wigglesworth's "Puritan Ode" proclaims black souls equal to white in the eyes of God; in another poem, a "transported felon" describes Virginia servitude. Other highlights include poems in abolitionist mini-genres (such as the several poems entitled "The Dying African"); verse by the Afro-American astronomer Benjamin Banneker; and a prizewinning antislavery ode (originally in Greek) by a young Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Overall, this big book documents the increasing power of abolitionist sentiment over the century; the rising body of work written by slaves and former slaves; and the repellent backlash of pro-slavery writing—though Basker writes, "the overwhelming majority" of the period's poems "portray slavery as ugly and evil." (Nov.)

Forecast:The backbone of sales for this book will come via course syllabi, and they should be consistent for years to come. In fact, this huge collection is not likely to be eclipsed, unless it is by an American-only collection. Despite the lack of a completely national-historical orientation, look for long-term off-the-shelf sales, particularly during Black History Month.