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Mumbo Jumbo
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Mumbo Jumbo
Author(s): Ishmael Reed
The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages.
Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed’s brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture.
Review(s):
“Brilliantly idiosyncratic… For half a century, Ishmael Reed has been American literature’s most fearless satirist.”
—The New Yorker
"Part vision, part satire, part farce...A wholly original, unholy cross between the craft of fiction and witchcraft."
—The New York Times
"A dazzling classic ... exhilarating ... like jazz, the novel feels improvisatory and ambitious [...] It is a funny book about conspiracy theories that nonetheless feels serious and true. A philosophical and ingenious American race satire."
—Guardian
"From its title on, Mumbo Jumbo serves as a critique of black and Western literary forms and conventions, and of the complex relationships between the two."
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Author of The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
"Brilliant, phantasmal, eccentric...A visionary comic myth."
—The Boston Globe
"A 'HooDoo' thriller, an all-out assault on Western civilization...Reed's best novel."
—The Saturday Review
"A great writer."
—James Baldwin
ISBN: 9780684824772
Author(s): Ishmael Reed
The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages.
Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed’s brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture.
Review(s):
“Brilliantly idiosyncratic… For half a century, Ishmael Reed has been American literature’s most fearless satirist.”
—The New Yorker
"Part vision, part satire, part farce...A wholly original, unholy cross between the craft of fiction and witchcraft."
—The New York Times
"A dazzling classic ... exhilarating ... like jazz, the novel feels improvisatory and ambitious [...] It is a funny book about conspiracy theories that nonetheless feels serious and true. A philosophical and ingenious American race satire."
—Guardian
"From its title on, Mumbo Jumbo serves as a critique of black and Western literary forms and conventions, and of the complex relationships between the two."
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Author of The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
"Brilliant, phantasmal, eccentric...A visionary comic myth."
—The Boston Globe
"A 'HooDoo' thriller, an all-out assault on Western civilization...Reed's best novel."
—The Saturday Review
"A great writer."
—James Baldwin
ISBN: 9780684824772