Mules and Men »

Zora Neale Hurston will forever be remembered as one of the greatest writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is widely considered to be a classic, as it recounts the spiritual journey of a black southern woman in inventive and beautiful detail. An anthropologist, essayist, theatrical producer, and novelist, Hurston was a renaissance woman in the truest sense.

Mules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Returning to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, to gather material, Zora Neale Hurston recalls "a hilarious night with a pinch of everything social mixed with the storytelling." Set intimately within the social context of black life, the stories, "big old lies," songs, Vodou customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of African Americans.

Mary Helen Washington

A classic in style and form . . . Introduces the reader to the whole world of jook joints, lying contests, and tall tale sessions that make up the drama of the folk life of black people in the rural South.