Ishmael Reed has created a sharp, wildly funny slave's-eye view of the Civil War. Three slaves infected with Dysaethesia Aethipica (a term coined in the nineteenth century for the disease that makes Negroes run away) escape from Virginia. Not satisfied with leaving slavery halfway, one of the trio has vowed to go the whole distance to Canada; his master, Arthur Swille, determined to recover his property, pursues, hot on Raven Quickskill's trail. With...

Abandoned by their father and living in poverty with their heartless stepmother in Louisiana, two sisters from the Philippines, twelve-year-old Sol and six-year-old Ming, learn the true meaning of family.

In the small town of Dillon, Texas, only one night matters: Friday night. Eric Taylor is the head football coach for the Dillon High School Panthers, the town's pride and joy. Still stressing that the football players win. The town is counting that the team gives them victories. The close-knit residents face new challenges and uncertainties as they deal with the day-by-day pressures of life in transition.