Poet, author and playwright Langston Hughes was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance in the late 1950s. His writings capture the spirit of black culture as it struggled for recognition and acceptance. Tambourines to Glory is a morality fable illustrating the perpetual fight between good and evil. Angelic Essie Belle Johnson and devilish Laura Reed both agree that they need to do something to spice up their lives-and earn more money. So, they start...

Introduction by Arnold Rampersad. Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In The Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds of the decade--Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet--at the center of the "Harlem Renaissance." Arnold Rampersad writes in his incisive new introduction...

Meet the Stuart family: eight children raised in the hills of Arkansas by their godly and determined mother, Marian, who does her best to lead her children to Christ. But as her three oldest, Lylah, Amos, and Owen, each decide to go their own ways, none seem to follow the path Marian has laid out for them. Set at the turn of the twentieth century, this first of the American Century series tells the story of a time of growth and opportunity. Filled...

It is the tumultuous 1960s: Kennedy, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, and youth culture are on everyone's minds and lips. Prosperity and progress are undergirded with a sense of uneasiness for the Stuart family, along with the rest of the country. With a movie deal on the horizon, Bobby Stuart's star may be rising, but his descent into celebrity drug culture might be his undoing. And young love is blooming between two people who never expected...

The history of American military operations in the post-Vietnam era has been marked by failure and near-disaster. Since 1970, American forces have been committed in five operations-in Sontay to rescue prisoners, in Cambodia on behalf of the crew of the Mayaguez, in Iran to rescue the American hostages, in Beirut, and in Grenada-and in each case they have failed. Gabriel tells how and why each was crippled by faulty intelligence, clumsy execution,...

The close-knit Stuart clan becomes personally involved in WWII when several members of its younger generation go off to fight. Will and Clint are strongly rooted in their Christian heritage, but Adam's life has been aimless and bitter. While he fights his toughest battle within himself, he endangers the men under his command. The three cousins' military exploits take them from the Arkansas hills to the jungles of Guadalcanal, from Hollywood to the...

Just years before America witnessed the turn of the century, the three eldest Stuart children left their home in the hills of Arkansas to pursue their dreams in the land of opportunity. Now they are back for a family reunion at the humble home they left years ago. In an unforeseeable turn of events, their visit is cut short when Lylah and Amos are required to return to the city as the world edges closer to war. Within months they find themselves and...

Individual donors play a critical role in financing congressional elections, accounting for more than half of all money raised in House campaigns. But significant donors (defined here as those contributing more than $200) are the least understood participants in the system. Defenders assert that contributing money to campaigns is part of a broader pattern of civic involvement and is free speech that gives a voice to various interests. Detractors argue...