Volume 2 includes the books Shakespeare in Harlem (1942), Jim Crow's Last Stand (1943), Fields of Wonder (1947), and One-Way Ticket (1948). Starting around 1940, Hughes turned away from radical socialism toward strong support for the national war effort; as a poet, he resumed his experimentation in the blues, as Shakespeare in Harlem briliantly demonstrates. With this change in political emphasis came a renewed commitment to the achievement of civil rights for blacks, which Jim Crow's Last Stand vigorously asserts. In contrast, Fields of Wonder was Hughes's only book devoted entirely to lyric verse; but the next volume, One-Way Ticket, restored the balance that was essential to his creative expression as a poet.
Reviews
Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20th-century American literature... a powerful interpreter of the American experience... His poems are as vital as ever. - Philadelphia Inquirer



Book Information
ISBN 9780826213402
Author Langston Hughes
Format Hardback
Page Count 296
Imprint University of Missouri Press
Publisher University of Missouri Press
Weight(grams) 651g