Children of the Night: the Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to Present

Publisher Marketing: In 1969, Little, Brown and Company published The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, edited by Langston Hughes - the classic compendium of African-American short fiction from 1897 to 1967. Now, a quarter of a century later, Gloria Naylor has compiled an encore volume, Children of the Night, bringing this extraordinary series up to date. Gathering together the most gifted black writers of our time - from 1967 to the present - Naylor has assembled a rich and varied collection of stories. The portrait that emerges of the African-American experience in the post-Civil Rights era is stirring, compelling, sometimes disturbing, and certainly provocative. Naylor has arranged the stories thematically so the reader focuses on a particular subject - slavery, for example, or the family. In the hands of different writers, these themes provide a wealth and variety of human experience. The stories are more than testimonies of the long battle for survival. From a young woman's struggles with her barren faith in Alice Walker's lyrical "The Diary of an African Nun" to an innocent man's involvement in a horrifying act of violence in Ann Petry's "The Witness, " they are, as Naylor states in her introduction, "examples of affirmation: of memory, of history, of family, of being." They are stories for all of us "at the beginning: of mankind as a species; of America as a nation; of the African-American as a full citizen."Publisher Marketing: In 1969, Little, Brown and Company published The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, edited by Langston Hughes - the classic compendium of African-American short fiction from 1897 to 1967. Now, a quarter of a century later, Gloria Naylor has compiled an encore volume, Children of the Night, bringing this extraordinary series up to date. Gathering together the most gifted black writers of our time - from 1967 to the present - Naylor has assembled a rich and varied collection of stories. The portrait that emerges of the African-American experience in the post-Civil Rights era is stirring, compelling, sometimes disturbing, and certainly provocative. Naylor has arranged the stories thematically so the reader focuses on a particular subject - slavery, for example, or the family. In the hands of different writers, these themes provide a wealth and variety of human experience. The stories are more than testimonies of the long battle for survival. From a young woman's struggles with her barren faith in Alice Walker's lyrical "The Diary of an African Nun" to an innocent man's involvement in a horrifying act of violence in Ann Petry's "The Witness," they are, as Naylor states in her introduction, "examples of affirmation: of memory, of history, of family, of being." They are stories for all of us "at the beginning: of mankind as a species; of America as a nation; of the African-American as a full citizen." Review Citations: Booklist 12/01/1995 pg. 609 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Library Journal 11/01/1995 pg. 78 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Library Journal 11/15/1995 pg. 102 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Library Journal 11/15/1995 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1996 pg. 92 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1997 pg. 679 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 12/01/1995 pg. 1667 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 12/11/1995 pg. 56 (EAN 9780316599269, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Contributor Bio:  Naylor, Gloria Gloria Naylor is the author of The Women of Brewster Place, which won the National Book Award. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.