{"product_id":"the-best-of-simple-langston-hughes","title":"The Best of Simple;  Langston Hughes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLangston Hughes's stories about Jesse B. Semple--first composed for a weekly column in the Chicago Defender and then collected in Simple Speaks His Mind , Simple Takes a Wife , and Simple Stakes a Claim --have been read and loved by hundreds of thousands of readers. In The Best of Simple , the author picked his favorites from these earlier volumes, stories that not only have proved popular but are now part of a great and growing literary tradition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSimple might be considered an Everyman for black Americans. Hughes himself wrote: \"...these tales are about a great many people--although they are stories about no specific persons as such. But it is impossible to live in Harlem and not know at least a hundred Simples, fifty Joyces, twenty-five Zaritas, and several Cousin Minnies--or reasonable facsimiles thereof.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs Arnold Rampersad has written, Simple is \"one of the most memorable and winning characters in the annals of American literature, justly regarded as one of Hughes's most inspired creations.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLangston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, went to Cleveland, Ohio, lived for a number of years in Chicago, and long resided in New York City's Harlem. He graduated form Lincoln University in 1929 and was awarded an honorary Litt. D. in 1943. He was perhaps best known as a poet and the creator of Simple, but he also wrote novels, biography, history, plays (several of them Broadway hits), and children's books, and he edited several anthologies. Mr. Hughes died in 1967.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJanuary 1, 1961\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThrough poetry, prose, and drama, American writer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Langston Hughes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e made important contributions to the Harlem renaissance; his best-known works include \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/15762561.Weary_Blues\" title=\"Weary Blues\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"\u003eWeary Blues\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(1926) and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/133914.The_Ways_of_White_Folks\" title=\"The Ways of White Folks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"\u003eThe Ways of White Folks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(1934).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePeople best know this social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist James Mercer Langston Hughes, one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry, for his famous written work about the period, when \"Harlem was in vogue.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"FREEAIR Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49414795559234,"sku":"","price":6.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/files\/bestsimple.jpg?v=1721677358","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/the-best-of-simple-langston-hughes","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}