Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, edited by Charles Henry Rowell

THIS LANDMARK ANTHOLOGY brings together for the first time more than three hundred poems by over seventy African American poets, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, Ai, Toi Derricotte, Rita Dove, Elizabeth Alexander, Natasha Tretheway, Major Jackson, and Kevin Young. Angles of Ascent looks to the immediate past of contemporary African American poetry, including the influence of Modernism in the 1950s and the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, before turning toward the current thriving literary scene and beyond. General readers and specialists alike will treasure this collection for its diverse readings of humanity by modern and contemporary African American poets as well as its comprehensive introductions and commentary.

“The most thoroughly engaging and inclusive anthology of contemporary African American poetry to date” – EDWARD HIRSCH, author of The Living Fire and How to Read a Poem

“A dazzling compilation that does justice to the rich variety and eloquent achievement of African American poetic voices since the dismantling of segregation” – THADIOUS M. DAVIS, author of Southscapes 

“A stunningly rich panorama. Angles of Ascent will be known as the definitive collection of African American poetry and poetics from the vantage of its moment.” – BRENT HAYES EDWARDS, author of The Practice of Diaspora

"With thirty years of critical discernment at his fingertips, Charles Rowell has harvested an inspired collection."

— MARLON B. ROSS, author of Manning the Race