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Mumbo jumbo

Ishmael Reed

1972223 pagesabout 3–5 hours
1972
first published
  • 1972Atheneum · 223 pagesISBN 9780689707308
  • 1978Avon Books · 256 pages · ENGISBN 9780380494378
  • 1989Allison & Busby · ENGISBN 9780850318449
  • 1978Avon · 256 pagesISBN 9780380018604
  • 1972Doubleday · 223 pages · ENGISBN 9780385056755
  • 1996Scribner · 224 pages · ENGISBN 9780684824772
  • 2020Audible Studios on Brilliance AudioISBN 9781713518068
  • 2016La Fuga Ediciones, S.L. · 332 pagesISBN 9788494594403

Spanning a dizzying host of genres, from cinema to academia to mythology, Mumbo Jumbo is a lively ride through a key decade of American history the 1920's. In addition to ragtime, blues, and jazz, Reed's allegory draws on the Harlem Renaissance, the Back to Africa movement, and America's occupation of Haiti. His style throughout is as avant-garde and vibrant as the music at its center. From New Orleans to Chicago to New York, the "Jes Grew" epidemic makes people desperate to dance, overturning social norms in the process.

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