Tuff, February 2021
Trade Size / e-Book Slumberland, February 2021
Trade Size / e-Book Hokum, January 2006
Trade Size Tuff, August 2001
Trade Size (reprint) White Boy Shuffle, May 2001
Trade Size
Selected and introduced by acclaimed novelist and poet
Paul Beatty, Hokum is a liberating, eccentric,
savagely comic collection of the funniest writing by black
Americans.
This book is less a comprehensive
collection of African-American humor than a mix-tape
narrative dubbed by a trusted friend—a sampler of
underground classics, rare grooves, and timeless summer
jams, poetry and prose juxtaposed with the blues, hip-hop,
political speeches, and the world’s funniest radio sermon.
The subtle musings of Toni Cade Bambara, Henry Dumas, and
Harryette Mullen are bracketed by the profane and often loud
ruminations of Langston Hughes, Darius James, Wanda Coleman,
Tish Benson, Steve Cannon, and Hattie Gossett. Some of the
funniest writers don’t write, so included are selections
from well-known yet unpublished wits Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mike
Tyson, and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Selections also come
from public figures and authors whose humor, although
incisive and profound, is often overlooked: Malcolm X,
Suzan-Lori Parks, Zora Neale Hurston, Sojourner Truth, and
W.E.B. Dubois. Groundbreaking, fierce, and hilarious, this
is a necessary anthology for any fan or student of American
writing, with a huge range and a smart, political grasp of
the uses of humor.