Coverage of Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto

Here's overage of Colson Whitehead's novel, Crook Manifesto. 

2024

• June 5: Colson Whitehead channels the paranoia and fear of 1970s NYC in 'Crook Manifesto' - NPR

• June 4: Colson Whitehead on how his life shaped his latest book -- CBS News

2023

• August 15: Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead - Staff Reporter - Cyprus Mail

• August 14: Crook Manifesto is strike two for Colson Whitehead’s ‘strangely inert’ Harlem crime saga - Sascha Morrell - The Conversation

• August 10: The straight and narrow vision of ‘Crook Manifesto’ - Shahriar Shaams - The Daily Star

• August 3: Colson Whitehead Loves a Doomed Heist - Michael Williams - Read This (podcast)

• August 2: New novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead - CTV Your Morning - YouTube

• August 1: Colson Whitehead’s Ode to 1970s New York - Evan Kindley - The New Republic 

• July 30: Best new audio books — tales of our tangled lives - Alex Clark - Financial Times

• July 27: A Portrait of Transformation in “Crook Manifesto” -  Michael Welch - Chicago Review of Books

• July 27: Colson Whitehead ‘Crook’ Book Deserves a Look - Michael Malone - The Examiner News

• July 25: Crook Manifesto: A Novel - Jennifer Bort Yacovissi - Washington Independent Review of Books

• July 24: Whitehead channels the paranoia and fear of 1970s NYC in Crook Manifesto - Terry Gross -NPR

• July 23: Crook Manifesto...Sparkling Harlem Shuffle sequel - Rosemary Goring - The Scotland Herald 

• July 21: Colson Whitehead on “Crook Manifesto” - The New Yorker Radio Hour

• July 21: Colson Whitehead Loses the Plot - Tope Folarin - The Atlantic 

• July 21: Colson Whitehead on Crook Manifesto - New York Times

• July 21: The Setting of Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto, in Archives - Erica Ackerberg - New York Times

• July 21: Hear from novelist Colson Whitehead - Brianna Golodryga - CNN

• July 21: 'There's a way that the city shapes us': Colson Whitehead on Crook Manifesto - CNN

•  July 20: Transcript: Giving Voice with Colson Whitehead - Jonathan Capehart - Washington Post

•  July 20: Colson Whitehead on ‘Crook Manifesto’ and his Harlem trilogy - Jonathan Capehart - Washington Post

• July 20: Whitehead on Blaxploitation Cinema...and His Own Harlem Trilogy - Dwyer Murphy - Crime Reads

• July 19: Whitehead on Blaxploitation Cinema...and His Own Harlem Trilogy - Dwyer Murphy - LitHub

• July 19: Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead - Stuart Kelly - Scotsman

• July 19: Whitehead takes on a heist story in latest novel ‘Crook Manifesto’ - Moira Macdonald - Seattle Times

• July 18: Whitehead on His New Novel ‘Crook Manifesto’ and the Writing Life - Hugh Delehanty - AARP

• July 18: Colson Whitehead, author of new novel "Crook Manifesto" - CBS Mornings

• July 18: Colson Whitehead Knows the Secret to Reinvention - Adrienne Westenfeld - Esquire

• July 18: Colson Whitehead's heist hero in search of Jackson 5 tickets - Jason Heller - NPR

• July 18: Colson Whitehead on the heists, fire, and movie magic of his new novel - Constance Grady - Vox

• July 17: Whitehead delves into history of his home - Emily Donaldson - The Globe and Mail

• July 17: Colson Whitehead pens entertaining, uneven sequel - Ann Levin - AP News

• July 17: From Churn to Burn: Colson Whitehead’s half-true Harlem - Lawrence Jackson - Harper's

• July 17: Crook Manifesto - Phil Shanklin - Reviews Revues

• July 15: ‘Crook Manifesto’ among the most historically resonant fiction around - Brian Bethune - The Star

• July 14: How Whitehead’s childhood helped inspire crime novel - Erik Pedersen - Orange County Register 

• July 13: ‘Crook Manifesto' .. delves deep into the maelstrom of 1970s Harlem - Walton Muyumba - Boston Globe

• July 13: Colson Whitehead Returns to Harlem, and His Hero Returns to Crime - Walter Mosley - New York Times

• July 12: Another first from shape-shifting Colson Whitehead: A crime-novel sequel - Chris Vognar - LA Times

• July 12: A dazzling sequel to Harlem Shuffle - Jake Arnott - The Guardian

• July 12: Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead — back on the mean streets - Alex Preston - Financial Times

• July 3: Most Anticipated: The Great 2023B Book Preview - The Millions

• April 12: Crook Manifesto - Kirkus Reviews

• February 3: Colson Whitehead Revisits 1970s New York City2022 - Aaron Gwyn - Publishers Weekly

2022

• October 26: Our Book Cover Reveal of Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto - Hamilton Cain - Oprah Daily

• October 26: Fleet acquires new novel from Colson Whitehead - Little, Brown 

• March 8: Get ready: Colson Whitehead’s new novel is coming next summer - Emily Firetog - LitHub 

•  March 8: Colson Whitehead Tweets Title of His Next Novel - Michael Schaub - Kirkus Reviews

• March 8: Summer 2023 - Twitter

Related:

• A notebook on Colson Whitehead

A checklist of poems about Harriet Tubman

• "Interrogation of Harriet Tubman" by Lenard D. Moore 

• "dark energy" by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

• "Harriet Tubman" by Eloise Greenfield

• "Araminta" by Amanda Gunn

• "Mystic" by Amanda Gunn

• "Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman" by Sonia Sanchez

• "Harriet Tubman" by Samuel Allen 

• "Harriet" by Lucille Clifton 

• "Harriet Tubman" by Sam Cornish 

• “Runagate Runagate” by Robert Hayden 

 • They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (2004) by Quraysh Ali Lansana 

• "Harriet Tubman" by Margaret Walker

Related:

• Notebook on poetry about slavery & struggles for liberation

• A checklist of poems featuring ex-slaves

Metrics, Black College Students, and Literary Studies

Jason Rhody, Director of Academic Program Services and Professional Development for MLA, asked a good question during the Q & A of the panel I was on for the MAPS Institute. I didn't respond, because I had previously spoken for some other questions and didn't want to take up too much of the space. 

Rhody asked (I'm paraphrasing) the panelists and really the room about various metrics we use to demonstrate the value of humanities education at our various institutions. He said (or I imagined) two areas for his question: 

1.) What metrics do we gather and share with administrators?

2.) What metrics do we gather and share with students? 

Re: administrators 

I can tell you that with the program I work with for first-year collegiate black men, the biggest, most important metrics were released a few years back. The folks at the analytics center at my university revealed that the biggest predictor, since 2013, on whether black men persisted and graduated was whether they participated in the course I teach for guys during their first year. 

The analytics folks took a look at all black men students and started identifying patterns concerning those who persisted, graduated, went on probation, and dropped out. Those metrics reflected favorably on our program and assisted me in making the case for making a new tenure-line hire in African American literary studies and for expanding the number of Black men students we could enroll each year.

Still, I think we need additional metrics, like: 

• How many guys enroll in African American literature and/or related courses after that first one?

• How many of the students decide to major or minor in courses as a result of the course?

• How many arts and humanities activities do the students participate in?

• What humanities activities do the students participate in each semester as a result of the course? 

And so forth. 

Re: metrics for students

In the course I teach for first-year black men and the one I teach for first-year black women, the students are particularly interested in what their predecessors thought about materials we cover. The guys want to know what the previous cohorts of young black men thought about Malcolm, Black Thought, and others. The young women want to know which spoken word poems previous cohorts of black women favored. 

Among black women students, there's no question that the most popular poem over the last five or so years has been Jae Nichelle's "Friends With Benefits." 

I'll need to do more to gather and then present some of the figures on student interests.

Students would also benefit hearing about the various things beyond our course that students did with humanities. Doing so could give the students a clearer sense of pathways they might take up. 

Anyway, the real point of this entry is to note I have more work to do to develop a full answer on metrics, black students, and literary studies.

Related:

• Notebook on Collegiate Black Men Reading Short Fiction

Notes on "Humanities in the World, Humanities at Work" (MAPS Institute)

On June 29, I participated in "Humanities in the World,  Humanities at Work" -- an institute coordinated by MLA Academic Program Services (MAPS). These MAPS Institutes provide training and support for educators and professionals in language and literatures. Of course the Modern Language Association (MLA), is more widely known for the citation style, and then folks in English studies know about the large annual conference. But these MAPS institutes represent really important, under-reported grassroots work in the field.    

Offered over Zoom, the institute gave a wide range of folks a chance to get together, listen, and contribute to discussions about developments and best practices in the field. This most recent institute covered topics such as ways to build undergraduate career readiness, enrollment challenges, AI, and foreign world languages. In short, they covered an array of pressing concerns. 

I participated on a panel entitled, "Making the Humanities Accessible to All Students." I spoke briefly about reading short stories with collegiate black men. I mentioned some of the thinking processes that come to the fore as I've been thinking about  the minds of these young readers.  

The field of English is really large, and thus all kinds of subfields have emerged. That means, I usually present research findings at African American literature conferences and gatherings. So I welcomed this opportunity at the MAPS Institute to participate in a project with a general audience of folks in literature and languages.   

The MAPS Institute rewards those of us looking to enhance our curriculums and academic programming. Participants spoke beyond their particular specialties to highlight best practices and creative solutions to common problems. That gave us a range of possibilities to consider.  

In some respects, the inclination to speak more broadly about the benefits or outcomes of humanities education connects to ongoing commentary from Paula Krebs, the Executive Director of the MLA. She's been out there fighting the good fight actively discussing and making a case for the humanities. 

This advocacy work is especially significant right now given the conversations about the death of the English major and the humanities. It's disappointing that folks in our field aren't saying more about the intrinsic value of what we do, like what students have to gain by analyzing poems and short stories. My generous guess is that many literature professors aren't fully aware of the threats facing the field. 

Too, specialization leads to particularized projects. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But working in really distinct areas could mean professors aren't as well-versed in discussing the challenges facing the broader field. Here again is why bringing a range of people together like with the MAPS Institute is so critical. 

During the Q & A, Jason Rhody, Director of Academic Program Services and Professional at MLA, raised a good question about how we might all use metrics to highlight the value of our humanities courses. I really wish we had a more thorough discussion, in African American literary studies, for instance, of using data to track our value and challenges. 

The racial bias of evaluations often dominates conversations when we mention metrics. That's an important discussion to have, but it's perhaps prevented us from really engaging in a more expansive conversation about how we might track student experiences, interests, progress, areas for improvement, and on and on. 

The MAPS Institute gave me a chance to start jotting down some of my thoughts on metrics and other issues. Big ups to Janine Utell, Lydia Tang, Ayanni Cooper, Mai Hunt, Rhody, and other staff with MLA and MAPS for pulling off this gathering and giving me and others more to consider. 

Related:

• Notebook on Collegiate Black Men Reading Short Fiction

Paula Krebs and the Case for the Humanities

Paula Krebs, the Executive Director of the Modern Language Association, has been advocating for the humanities during this critical moment as forces seek to ban books, diminish support for humanities, and news reports speak on the death of English. Below, I'm charting some statements from Krebs as well as announcements about humanities talks she's given. 

This roundup of links might complement my entry On the English major, death of humanities.

Entries

2023

• April 24: Announcement about conversation with Paula Krebs - Rhode Island College 

• April 1: The crisis in arts and humanities: Rhetoric or reality? - Nathan M. Greenfield - University World News

• March 22: MLA Awarded $1.5 Million Mellon Grant - News, MLA Commons 

• March 17: The Humanities at Work - Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Georgia 

• March 16: Paula Krebs, the Executive Director of the MLA, on Humanities Success Stories - MLA

• March 7: Lunch Meeting with the Paula Krebs - Grad Futures, Princeton 

• January: The Vital Humanities - Paula Krebs - Issues in Science and Technology

2021:

• April 30: Accelerating Humanities Professional Development - Grad Futures, Princeton 

2020:

• February 6: Executive Directors of Nation’s Largest Humanities Associations Visit CAS - Vanderbilt 

• January 20: Humanities for the Next Generation: Convo with Grossman (AHA) and Krebs (MLA) - Vanderbilt Univ.

2018

• January 3: Making the Case for the Humanities -- The Brian Lehrer Show -- WNYC 

Related:

• On the English major, death of humanities

Panels and workshops from the recent MAPS Institute

Here's a list of panels and workshops from the recent MAPS Institute,  "Humanities in the World,  Humanities at Work."

• Beyond the Crisis Narrative: Leading with the Humanities

• Building Undergraduate Career Readiness
• Politics, Pedagogy, and Practice: Academic Freedom Discussions for Leaders
• Meeting Enrollment Challenges in Languages and Literatures
• How to Get Started: Supporting Career Readiness in the Undergraduate Classroom
• High-Impact Practices as a Strategy for Recruitment and Advocacy
• Difficult Colleagues, Difficult Conversations
• The Future of the English Major from Curriculum to Careers
• Standards and Good Practices for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members
• Making the Case for Language Study on Our Campus and Beyond
• Leading a Comparative or Multidisciplinary Program
• Languages for the Professions and Beyond
• Dual Enrollment, and Dual Credit: The Higher Ed Perspective
• Increasing Enrollments in Language and Literature Programs through Innovative Online Offerings
• What the Humanities Can Learn from AI and What AI Can Learn from the Humanities
• AI and Pedagogy
• How to Be a Dean: Careers in Higher Administration
• Finding Funding in the Humanities
• Supporting Student Success at HBCUs and HSIs
• Making the Humanities Accessible to All Students

Related:

• Notebook on Collegiate Black Men Reading Short Fiction

Blogging about Poetry in June 2023

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• June 25: African American Poetry Tracker compositions

• June 23: Notebook on Poetry and Collegiate Black Men

• June 23: Collegiate black men and poetry

• June 1: Blogging about poetry in May 2023