Color ─ Essays on Race, Family, and History

In 1991, acclaimed poet Kenneth A. McClane published Walls: Essays, 1985-1990, a volume of essays dealing with life in Harlem, the death of his alcoholic brother, and the complexities of being black and middle-class in America. Now, in Color: Essays on Race, Family, and History, McClane contributes further to his self-described “autobiographical sojourn” with a second collection of interconnected essays. In McClane’s words, “All concern race, although they, like the human spirit, wildly sweep and yaw.”

“Kenneth McClane argues that the inclusion of a jazz phrase in the midst of another obviously discrete modality becomes an act of communion that 'honors the fragile possibility for mutuality.' He is right, for he does this skillfully in Color. An exciting find, the volume is a compendium of sophisticated essays rendered with deceptive simplicity. Color, always insightful, sometimes inexplicably tender, is that rare volume, seldom encountered, that moves us beyond measure.” —Mari Evans, author of Continuum: New and Selected Poems and Clarity as Concept: A Poet’s Perspective

Kenneth A. McClane is the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Literature at Cornell University, where he has taught English and creative writing for thirty-four years. He is the author of seven poetry collections and a book of essays. Many of his poems and essays have appeared in anthologies and leading literary journals.