Simple's Uncle Sam: With a New Introduction by Akiba Sullivan Harper

By Langston Hughes

Book Overview

Langston Hughes's most beloved character comes back to life in this extraordinary collection, Simple's Uncle Sam, featuring a new introduction by Akiba Sullivan Harper.

Langston Hughes is best known as a poet, but he was also a prolific writer of theater, autobiography, and fiction. None of his creations won the hearts and minds of his readers as did Jesse B. Semple, better known as "Simple." Simple speaks as an Everyman for African Americans in Uncle Sam's America. With great wit, he expounds on topics as varied as women, Gospel music, and sports heroes--but always keeps one foot planted in the realm of politics and race.

Over the years readers have been able to appreciate Simple's situational humor as well as his poignant questions about social injustice in The Best of Simple and The Return of Simple. Now they can, once again, enjoy the last of Hughes's original Simple books.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809086816
• ISBN13: 9780809086818
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Hill & Wang
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Langston Hughes gets 5 stars for this!!

The life of poverty and discrimination is all about Simple, the character in Simple's Uncle Sam. He goes through everything and tells about it in his short stories. From his ideas for a Negro President to his ideas for an ugly contest instead of a beauty contest, this man's mind comes alive with explicit detail, description, and opinion.