“This is an extraordinary book. Muyumba’s pathbreaking account of Ellison, Baraka, and Baldwin’s aesthetic theories and the connection between those theories and African American politics is creative and convincing.”

Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Princeton University

“Muyumba’s compelling book shows how Ellison, Baldwin, and Baraka drew upon ‘the music’ as they rethought the contours of blackness and recast the pragmatist pursuit of democracy in ways that were beholden to African American experiences and aesthetics. By doing so, he helps us to better understand the profound ways that jazz, as an intellectual as well as a creative practice, shaped African American letters and its gendered politics during the second half of the twentieth century.”

Eric Porter, University of California, Santa Cruz

"Playing on the intriguing connections between pragmatism, jazz, and the writings of Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka, Muyumba looks at these authors’ differences in style, method, and message. By bringing these writers together—in their appreciation for jazz, democratic ideals, sociopolitical change—the author provides new insights into both the major and shorter works of his subjects."

Choice