This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition combines the two most important African American slave narratives into one volume. Frederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1861 she published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, now recognized as the most comprehensive antebellum slave narrative written by a woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves, and it remains crucial reading. These narratives illuminate and inform each other. This edition includes an incisive Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah and extensive annotations.

A distinguished economist traces the history of nine American ethnic groups--the Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Italians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Blacks, the Puerto Ricans, and the Mexicans--in order to explain their varied experiences in adapting to American society.

“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

《另一个国家》是二十世纪美国黑人作家詹姆斯·鲍德温的代表作。小说刻画了二十世纪六十年代生活在纽约格林尼治村、哈莱姆和法国的几位作家和艺术家,通过描写他们之间的种种恋情,表现了他们灵与欲的激情以及空虚和迷惘的内心世界。小说涉及到性乱、同性恋、吸毒和种族矛盾等西方的社会问题,深刻反映了美国不同种族和不同性别的青年之间的混乱关系和生存状态,揭示了现代都市青年的情感困惑和对真情的炽烈追求。

当代美国最重要的黑人作家，1993年度诺贝尔文学奖得主托妮·莫瑞森的第四部长篇小说。小说主要讲述了黑人儿子和白人吉德的爱情故事。笔触细腻，人物、语言及故事情节生动逼真，想像力丰富。这个黑白之间，看似寻常的爱情故事可以看作剖析当代美国社会的一个典型缩影。虽然就实际生活而言，这种个案并不广泛，但它所揭示的民族、文化、阶级性的内在紧张却是一个经久不衰，值得人们永远咀嚼与反思的话题。

This is a book that will "make you proud to be a member of the human race," says Mirabella, and countless readers have already discovered its power. Written in remembrance of his Polish-born, Southern-raised Jewish mother-who married a black man and raised twelve children, all of whom completed college-The Color of Water is a classic of the memoir genre, a testament to love, and a truly American story.

Disgrace--set in post--apartheid Cape Town and on a remote farm in the Eastern Cape--is deft, lean, quiet, and brutal. A heartbreaking novel about a man and his daughter, Disgrace is a portrait of the new South Africa that is ultimately about grace and love. At fifty--two Professor David Lurie is divorced, filled with desire but lacking passion. An affair with one of his students leaves him jobless and friendless, except for his daughter, Lucy, who works her smallholding with her neighbor, Petrus, an African farmer now on the way to a modest prosperity. David's attempts to relate to Lucy, and to a society with new racial complexities, are disrupted by an afternoon of violence that changes him and his daughter in ways he could never have foreseen. In this wry, visceral, yet strangely tender novel, Coetzee once again tells "truths [that] cut to the bone" (The New York Time Book Review). A finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Awards Coetzee is the only writer to have been awarded the Booker Prize twice

故事发生在美车南方一个小镇上，一位黑人工人的１０岁女儿被两个白人青年流氓殴打轮奸，抛弃荒野。事发后，那两个白人被捕受审，但在法院的楼梯上被女孩的父亲开枪打死，于是这位父亲也被逮捕受审。围绕这位父亲是否犯有谋杀罪，当地的白人和黑人在法庭内外展开了一场激烈的争论和斗争。美国的种族矛盾和看似完善的法律制度中所存在的种种弊端及漏洞，也在这起案件的审理过程中暴露。

Lawyer Atticus Finch defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic, Puliter Prize-winning novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Through the eyes of Atticus's children, Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unanswering honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's. --This text refers to thePaperbackedition.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken. Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own. Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

《最蓝的眼睛》出版于1970年，是1993年诺贝尔文学奖获得者Toni Morrison的首部小说。小说讲述一个十一岁的美国黑人小女孩Pecola Breedlove对金发碧眼的渴望，希望自己的眼睛变蓝，这样她就变的漂亮，别人都会注意到她，她的世界也会因此不同。小说展现了她渴望深处的梦魇以及为了实现梦想的悲剧。

《约翰内斯堡不再哀伤》内容简介：一对姐弟去300公里外的约翰内斯堡寻找从事保姆工作的妈妈。通过一路上的所见所闻，向我们展开了一幅种族隔离制度下，南非黑人的生活画卷：黑人妇女尽心照料白人小孩，而自己的孩子却成为无人照顾的留守儿童；在白人的种植园里，偷吃橘子的黑人会被猎枪射杀，而白人不用承担任何责任；没有随身携带身份证的黑人，会被毒打、关进监狱…… 一些青年人对这种不公平提出质疑。这对姐弟的觉醒，让我们看到了美好生活的希望。

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this enchanting classic - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much...

饱受暴力冲突伤害的社会，如何让其成员对过去的历史采取和解态度的？如何为一个和平而稳定的未来奠定根基？如何应对复仇的冲动？对前政府时期国家暴力行为的责任者应如何处置？个人和社区如何尽最大努力去妥善处理民族创伤的后遗症？本书中探讨了这些令人痛苦与困惑的难题，具体分析了不同社会在处理过去创伤问题上所采取的不同方式的优点和缺陷，明确指出了接受过去与展望现在和将来的和平文化之间的联系。

誰在我們之間劃下一條分界線？ 1962年美國南方密西西比州。22歲白人女孩史基特剛從大學畢業返鄉，她夢想成為作家，但她的母親認為一椿好婚事才是女人的依歸。史基特從小由女傭帶大，女傭是她傾訴心事的好朋友，然而這次回來女傭也失蹤了，沒有人知道去向。 機靈能幹，內斂沉著，曾帶大十七個白人小孩的54歲黑傭愛比琳，在兒子兩年前因雇主疏忽而意外死亡後，她的內心世界起了變化，她在史基特的朋友李佛太太家當幫傭，照顧兩歲的小女孩。 黑傭米妮，是愛比琳最好的朋友，矮小肥胖，廚藝了得，除了一身潑辣性格使她時常丟工作，一直到鎮上新來一戶人家才讓她找到幫傭之職。新來的漂亮女主人對待米妮如同姊妹，只是女主人看似心事重重還行跡可疑，而鎮上的其他女士也不歡迎她。 某日，史基特的朋友希莉起草一份衛生計畫，她恐於黑人身上帶有病毒，建議為幫傭另蓋廁所。對此感到不平的史基特，決意著手一個謂為大膽的寫作計畫：採訪黑傭在白人家庭的工作甘苦，並寫成一本書…… 愛比琳、米妮，和善良的史基特、接二連三的黑人遭虐事件，以及一個「幫傭專用廁所」事件，使得這些女人在保守的60年代不分黑白地首次相聚：黑傭訴說人生，白女孩記錄並改造故事。像發動寧靜革命，也像是拋磚引玉，有越來越多黑傭願意訴說自己的故事，在膚色黑白分明、道德黑白卻模稜兩可的年代，她們的相遇是民權運動發生前黑白之間搭起的最初橋梁。或許是真的，不管有多麼危險，「這本書」真能順利出版，讓她們的聲音被世人聽見…… 本書分別透過三位女性的告白，以充滿感情的筆調，將人類追求夢想、自由與平等的渴求與良知淋漓展現，將愛與痛苦，恨與信仰，恐懼與勇氣交織其中。

《我的家在蜜糖湾》内容简介：我的家在蜜糖湾？蜜糖湾在哪里？表面上它在遥远的非洲利比里亚，事实上却一直深藏在我们每个人的内心深处。虽然蜜糖湾有偷心贼，有可恶的流氓，有可怕的战乱，却也有我们永远不能遗忘的童年，以及挚友……随着作者踏上已经面目全非的蜜糖湾，读者也仿佛走回了内心的原乡。

希特勒为什么屠杀犹太人，卢旺达的种族大屠杀一夜之间使多数民族变成了少数民族……集体大屠杀，是因为利益、权力、还是恐惧？集体杀戮与灭族屠杀的起因一直是很多社会评论家和心理学家在思索的问题。 作者以全新的观点与复杂的角度来探讨，并从社会心理学层面深入研究暴力被合理化的根源，其呈现出历史与社会学的广度却是所有同类研究所不及的，也为集体暴力的研究打开了新的视野。在检视历史的向度之中，本书跳脱了概括性的谴责，从杀人者的角度来解剖他们的杀人动机，为的是让这个泯绝人性的行为不只是单一方向的检讨，更且探照杀人者的心境与历史背景，让事件的还原有更丰富的纵深。不仅如此，作者进一步举出多数社会中已经在应用的缓和暴力的机制，从而点出未来防止灭族屠杀的对策方向，全书结论所提出的见解，值得每一位研究者、决策者、有心的公民深思。

《美国种族简史》为美国著名经济学家托马斯.索威尔的经典作品，本书回顾阐述了美国的各个种族群体的历史：爱尔兰人，德意志人，犹太人，意大利人，华人，非裔人 ，波多黎各人及墨西哥人。

小说的背景，摆放在一九四八年的伦敦。倘若还原历史，这年六月份，曾有一艘“顺风帝国号”驶入伦敦的蒂尔伯里港区。船上，载了四百九十二名来自西印度群岛的乘客，他们是加勒比地区向英国的第一批大规模移民。小说讲述了牙买加移民在英国的生存处境，四位主要人物分别从各自的视角抒发不同的内心感受，使作品显得丰满而有立体感。本书用笔非常精当，观察敏锐，语言富有喜剧色彩，丰富的细节和贯穿于书中的贵金属般的小故事令人难忘。 《小岛》获2004年英国“惠特布菜德年度最佳小说奖”和“奥兰治文学奖”。故事背景是1948年的伦敦，讲述了牙买加移民在英国的生存处境一一移民身份的尴尬，对牙买加本土的怀念，对理想的追求，与当地居民的文化碰撞和逐渐融合，作者并没有忽略作为主人的英国民众在二战之后所受到的精神创伤和困惑。四位主要人物分别从各自的视角抒发不同的内心感受，使作品显得丰满而有立体感。

美国作家艾丽斯·沃克的代表作，并为作者赢得了美国文学最重要的奖项普利策奖、美国国家图书奖和全国书评家协会奖。 《紫颜色》的情节并不复杂，故事的年代大约在20世纪初到第二次世界大战前夕，背景是美国南方佐治亚乡村。十四岁的黑人女孩西丽被后父奸污，生下两个孩子。多病的母亲不了解真相活活气死了。她的孩子被后父抢走失踪，她本人又被迫嫁给已有四个孩子的鳏夫。丈夫另有所爱，对她百般虐待，而她 受旧思想旧习俗的影响只是自叹命苦，从不反抗，只在给上帝写的信里倾诉内心的痛苦。她对丈夫毫无感情，甚至不愿意叫他的名字，只称他为某某先生。善良的西丽发现后父和丈夫都对妹妹耐蒂不怀好心，便帮助她离家出走。另一方面，她任劳任怨地把丈夫前妻的儿女抚养成人。大儿子哈波结婚以后，想像父亲那样使唤打骂老婆，但儿媳妇索菲亚生性倔强，不肯对丈夫俯首贴耳唯命是从，在生了好几个孩子以后还是离开了哈波。西丽丈夫以前的情人，歌唱家莎格患重病流落街头。某某先生把她接到家里，她在西丽的精心护理下恢复了健康，两人成了知心朋友。莎格开导西丽要充分认识自己的聪明才智，要跟大男子主义思想作斗争，主动争取女人应有的权利。莎格的启发开阔了西丽的眼界，她开始用新的眼光观察世界、考虑问题。后来，莎格发现西丽的丈夫一直把耐蒂从非洲写来的信件秘密收藏起来不让她知道。西丽在愤怒之余决定脱离某某先生，跟莎格去孟菲斯。她走出家庭学习缝纫，成为手艺精湛的裁缝，开起裁缝铺，过上了独立自主的生活。某某先生经过痛苦的思想斗争，认识到过去大男子主义思想的错误，向西丽作了诚恳的检讨，获得了西丽的原谅。他们不再是夫妻，但成了知心朋友。西丽的妹妹耐蒂出走后到黑人牧师塞缪尔家干活，又随他们去非洲做传教士。她发现牧师的一儿一女就是西丽失去的孩子。塞缪尔一家在非洲生活得很艰难，他妻子染上非洲疟疾不治身亡。英国殖民者为种植橡胶肆意破坏当地奥林卡人民的土地和村落。塞缪尔和耐蒂赶到英国向教会求救，但遭到冷落和侮辱。他们返回非洲时当地人民对他们大为失望，纷纷投奔住在森林深处反抗白人的母布雷人。耐蒂此时已经跟塞缪尔结成夫妻，决心带着儿子亚当、女儿奥莉维亚及儿媳妇塔希回国。小说结尾处，西丽跟妹妹和儿子、女儿重新团聚，过上快乐的生活。