Kysha Brown Robinson is a vital new voice: insightful, courageous, substantive and compelling. A book for the times you need reassuring there is hope that the future of African American poetry is in the competent hands of a sensitive craftsperson. -Mari Evans There are no real secrets in life: only truths we try to hide but which a tear, a smile, a touch, a sibling or an unborn, a lover or task undone always reveals. For finally we are more than our faults, less than our grand accomplishments-we are ships on life's ocean, seeking, searching for human berth. And this book is a captain's journal. -Kalamu ya Salaam

The first major twenty-first century history of four hundred years of black writing, The Cambridge History of African American Literature presents a comprehensive overview of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States. Expert contributors, drawn from the United States and beyond, emphasise the dual nature of each text discussed as a work of art created by an individual and as a response to unfolding events in American cultural, political, and social history. Unprecedented in scope, sophistication and accessibility, the volume draws together current scholarship in the field. It also looks ahead to suggest new approaches, new areas of study, and as yet undervalued writers and works. The Cambridge History of African American Literature is a major achievement both as a work of reference and as a compelling narrative and will remain essential reading for scholars and students in years to come.