My Soul Has Grown Deep: Classics of Early African-American Literature

Pen/Faulkner Award-winning novelist John Edgar Wideman presents the best of early African-American writing in My Soul Has Grown Deep: Classics of Early African-American Literature, featuring such works as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk in full text, with informative biographical introductions. Appreciative and thorough, Wideman provides an introduction to each author's life and work, and acknowledges the literary presence of black women writers in early American literature: Karen Lee, Sojourner Truth, Phyllis Wheatley and Ida B. Wells. The 12 works consist mostly of autobiographical essays, along with the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Phyllis Wheatley. 100,000 first printing; $25,000 marketing campaign; 5-city author tour. (Sept.)