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Description of  Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner in the Harlem Renaissance: A Biography

Although recognized today as one of the genuine pioneers of black literature in this centurythe author of If We Must Die, Home to Harlem, Banana Bottom, and A Long Way from Home, among other worksClaude McKay (18901948) died penniless and almost forgotten in a Chicago hospital. In this masterly study, Wayne Cooper presents a fascinating, detailed account of McKays complex, chaotic, and frequently contradictory life. In his poetry and fiction, as well as in his political and social commentaries, McKay searched for a solid foundation for a valid black identity among the working-class cultures of the West Indies and the United States. He was an undeniably important predecessor to such younger writers of the Harlem Renaissance as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, and also to influential West Indian and African writers such as C. L. R. James and Aim Csaire. Knowledge of his life adds important dimensions to our understanding of American radicalism, the expatriates of the 1920s, and American literature. Mr. Coopers most original contribution is his careful and perceptive analysis of McKays nonfiction writing, especially his social and political commentary, which often contained prophetic statements on a range of important social, political, and historical issues.New York Times Book Review