Herb Boyd ist ein gefeierter amerikanischer Autor und Journalist, dessen Werk tief in die afroamerikanische Geschichte und Kultur eintaucht. Seine Schriften legen oft die komplexen Reisen und Erfahrungen schwarzer Männer in Amerika offen und heben ihre Odyssee und Beiträge hervor. Als anerkannte Stimme in literarischen Kreisen hat sich Boyd mit dem Leben einflussreicher Persönlichkeiten beschäftigt und deren Einfluss auf breitere gesellschaftliche und historische Narrative akribisch dokumentiert. Durch seine journalistische Arbeit, seine Redaktionstätigkeit und seine Lehrtätigkeit beleuchtet Boyd beständig das Erbe der afrikanischen Diaspora und seinen integralen Platz in der amerikanischen Geschichte.
The anthology offers a rich tapestry of eyewitness accounts that highlight the African American experience from the Middle Passage to the Million Man March. Editor Herb Boyd has curated a diverse selection of voices, blending the perspectives of both renowned figures and everyday individuals. This collection provides a compelling historical portrait, capturing the struggles, triumphs, and resilience of a community throughout history.
Chronicles three centuries of African American history with first-person narratives by Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and other important figures.
Fifty years after its first publication, Robin Boyd’s bestselling The Australian Ugliness remains the definitive statement on how we live and think in the environments we create for ourselves. In it Boyd railed against Australia’s promotion of ornament, decorative approach to design and slavish imitation of all things American. ‘The basis of the Australian ugliness,’ he wrote, ‘is an unwillingness to be committed on the level of ideas. In all the arts of living, in the shaping of all her artefacts, as in politics, Australia shuffles about vigorously in the middle—as she estimates the middle—of the road, picking up disconnected ideas wherever she finds them.’ Boyd was a fierce critic, and an advocate of good design. He understood the significance of the connection between people and their dwellings, and argued passionately for a national architecture forged from a genuine Australian identity. His concerns are as important now, in an era of sustainability, suburban sprawl and inner-city redevelopment, as they were half a century ago. Caustic and brilliant, The Australian Ugliness is a masterpiece that enables us to see our surroundings with fresh eyes.
