Songs of Jamaica (1912) is a poetry collection by Claude McKay. Published before the poet left Jamaica for the United States, Songs of Jamaica is a pioneering collection of verse written in Jamaican Patois, the first of its kind. As a committed leftist, McKay was a keen observer of the Black experience in the Caribbean, the American South, and later in New York, where he gained a reputation during the Harlem Renaissance for celebrating the resilience and cultural achievement of the African American community while lamenting the poverty and violence they faced every day. “Quashie to Buccra,” the opening poem, frames this schism in terms of labor, as one class labors to fulfill the desires of another: “You tas’e petater an’ you say it sweet, / But you no know how hard we wuk fe it; / You want a basketful fe quattiewut, / ‘Cause you no know how ‘tiff de bush fe cut.” Addressing himself to a white audience, he exposes the schism inherent to colonial society between white and black, rich and poor. Advising his white reader to question their privileged consumption, dependent as it is on the subjugation of Jamaica’s black community, McKay warns that “hardship always melt away / Wheneber it comes roun’ to reapin’ day.” This revolutionary sentiment carries throughout Songs of Jamaica, finding an echo in the brilliant poem “Whe’ fe do?” Addressed to his own people, McKay offers hope for a brighter future to come: “We needn’ fold we han’ an’ cry, / Nor vex we heart wid groan and sigh; / De best we can do is fe try / To fight de despair drawin’ night: / Den we might conquer by an’ by— / Dat we might do.” With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Claude McKay’s Songs of Jamaica is a classic of Jamaican literature reimagined for modern readers.

SONG OF JAMAICA 'Sammy plant piece a corn down a gully, An' it bear 'til it kill poor Sammy. Sammy dead, Sammy dead, Sammy dead oh, Sammy dead, Sammy dead, Sammy dead oh, Ah nuh tief Sammy tief mek dem kill him, Ah nuh tief Sammy tief mek dem kill him, But ah grudgeful naygar grudgeful mek dem kill him, But ah grudgeful naygar grudgeful mek dem kill him, Ah who she Sammy dead? him nuh dead oh!' Using the theme of this old Jamaican song, the author traces the life and times of the Gordon family of Manchester. Septimus fathers seven, the last of which is his namesake-Septimus (Junior)-a.k.a. 'Sammy'. Weaving as a backdrop the changing scenery of the Jamaican lifestyle and poignantly painting a picture of the Jamaica we all dreamed of, the author in this inspiring story leaves us with a sense that good will triumph over evil, as he follows the failures and successes of Septy and Sammy in their travels through Manchester, Clarendon, Kingston, Panama and the USA. About the Author Hector Grant was born in the district of Cocoa Walk in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica, West Indies. His formative years were spent there as well as in the district of Water Lane and Palmers Cross in the parish of Clarendon. He migrated to the United States as a young man and studied in colleges and universities in Mississippi and Texas, earning academic degrees in the Social Sciences, Sociology, Divinity and History. He has worked as Chaplin, College Instructor and Director in the General Board of Higher Education and the Ministry of the United Methodist Church in Mississippi and Texas. He presently resides in Kansas City, Missouri, where he continues his pastoral duties. Part of our commitment to publishing is to seek each year to discover new writers of fiction, who we feel have captured a part of the Jamaican spirit and history. This new author we feel has done this in his first book. We recommend it to you for your reading pleasure. -Mike Henry-

Finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize The New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year In her follow-up to Small Island, winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction, Andrea Levy once again reinvents the historical novel. Told in the irresistibly willful and intimate voice of Miss July, with some editorial assistance from her son, Thomas, The Long Song is at once defiant, funny, and shocking. The child of a field slave on the Amity sugar plantation in Jamaica, July lives with her mother until Mrs. Caroline Mortimer, a recently transplanted English widow, decides to move her into the great house and rename her "Marguerite." Together they live through the bloody Baptist War and the violent and chaotic end of slavery. An extraordinarily powerful story, "The Long Song leaves its reader with a newly burnished appreciation for life, love, and the pursuit of both" (The Boston Globe).

Jamaica has a rich musical heritage spanning a diversity of styles and forms. Throughout the island's modern history, music has played a significant role in the social, political and economic life of its people. Mango Time: Folk Songs of Jamaica draws from the wealth of Jamaica's folk music - the music of the Jamaican people which, with its colourful range of forms, reflects the way of life of individuals or entire communities. There are religious songs and secular songs; songs for marriage, birth, death and all rites of passage. There are songs for work and songs for play; songs of upliftment and hope, and songs of derision and despair; songs which tell of small happenings in remote villages and songs which give epic accounts of significant happenings in the island's history. In all these, the Jamaican folk song gives voice to the heart, soul and experience of the Jamaican people.

Winner of the ARSC’s Award for Best Research (History) in Folk, Ethnic, or World Music (2008) When Jamaican recording engineers Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock, Errol Thompson, and Lee “Scratch” Perry began crafting “dub” music in the early 1970s, they were initiating a musical revolution that continues to have worldwide influence. Dub is a sub-genre of Jamaican reggae that flourished during reggae’s “golden age” of the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Dub involves remixing existing recordings—electronically improvising sound effects and altering vocal tracks—to create its unique sound. Just as hip-hop turned phonograph turntables into musical instruments, dub turned the mixing and sound processing technologies of the recording studio into instruments of composition and real-time improvisation. In addition to chronicling dub’s development and offering the first thorough analysis of the music itself, author Michael Veal examines dub’s social significance in Jamaican culture. He further explores the “dub revolution” that has crossed musical and cultural boundaries for over thirty years, influencing a wide variety of musical genres around the globe. Ebook Edition Note: Seven of the 25 illustrations have been redacted.