Prose With A Purpose
Editor Gerald Early welcomes readers to The Common Reader, Washington University in St. Louis's new interdisciplinary journal, with a full menu of articles about issues of the day, and special events in the future.
By Gerald Early
From The Devil’s Dictionary
Even before the Internet, and even before Goerge Orwell, Ambrose Bierce's classic The Devil's Dictionary taught us how to see through the veil of language to words' true meanings, which are always open to interpretation.
Back-Seat Rebel
Jackie Robinson's famous 1944 court-martial revealed not just the hierarchy of power in language, but also the tension between the U.S. Army's efforts of integration and the ongoing struggle of black soldiers in their fight against Jim Crow.
R&B Odes From Jim Crow’s Jailhouse
In life and in music, The Prisonaires never got the justice they deserved. John Dougan's new book The Mistakes of Yesterday, the Hopes of Tomorrow works to even that score.
The Show of Shows
Kevin Cook writes an informative, insightful biography of Comedian Flip Wilson, the first black entertainer to successfully host a TV variety show. Gerald Early reviews Flip: The Inside Story of TV’s First Black Superstar.
Remembering the Rumble in the Jungle
When violent unrest broke out in Ferguson Aug.9 and several ensuing days after the police killing of a young unarmed black man, Gerald Early made the analogy to the 1964 Philadelphia race riot.
Michael Jackson’s Lonesome Highway
Remember The Time gives us peeks at the King of Pop through the lens of staff who worked closest with him, and thought the most of him.
Remembering Murray Weidenbaum
How late Washington University economist Murray Weidenbaum waged a gentleman's battle against the syndromes of small-mindedness.
Black History in March? No Good
Why March is the month of my Black History memories, the truth about the Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) championship fight, and The Common Reader comes into being.
Inventing The Common Reader
I was not interested in starting a journal, academic or otherwise. Then, given time, the invitation proved too seductive to resist.