Claude McKay Rebel Sojourner in the Harlem Renaissance

<p>Although he is recognized today as one of the genuine pioneers of black literature in this century—the author of “If We Must Die” <em>Home to Harlem Banana Bottom</em> and <em>A Long Way from Home</em> among other works—Claude McKay (1890–1948) died penniless and almost forgotten in a Chicago hospital. In this masterly study Wayne Cooper presents a fascinating detailed account of McKay’s complex often chaotic and frequently contradictory life.</p><p>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 Aime Cesaire.</p>