Select Publications
Books
- The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature (12th edition), co-edited with Michael Meyer. New York: Macmillan, 2020.
- Literature to Go (4th edition), co-edited with Michael Meyer. New York: Macmillan, 2020.
- James Baldwin in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- Understanding John Edgar Wideman. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2018.
- American Literature in Transition, 1980-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature. London: Routledge, 2016.
- “A Criminal Power”: James Baldwin and the Law. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press, 2012.
- Connections: Literature for Composition. (Co-edited, with Julie Nash). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
- The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh editions, (Co-edited, with Paul Lauter, et al). Boston: Cengage, 2006, 2010, 2013.
- Prose and Cons: Essays on Prison Literature in the United States. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Books, 2005.
- The Generation of Ideas: A Thematic Reader. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005.
- The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition, (Co-Edited, with Paul Lauter, et al.). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2004, 2014.
- Drawing the Iron Curtain: John Updike and the Cold War. University of Missouri Press, 2001.
- Re-Viewing James Baldwin: Things Not Seen. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000.
Articles
“The Coup and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The John Updike Review Volume 8, no. 1, Winter, 2020 (3-10).
“Behind Bars: The Current State of U.S. Prison Literature.” In Race and the Twenty-first Century, Michigan State UP, 2019 (162-195).
“'And That’s How the Blues Was Born’: Baraka’s Dutchman and Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie in Conversation” In Teaching Baraka’s Dutchman, Modern Language Association, 2018 (147-154).
“Fun Home: Annotated Allusions.” In Approaches to Teaching Bechdel’s Fun Home, ed. Judith Gardiner, MLA, 2018 (24-32).
“All the Clever Young Men.” In Remembering John Updike, ed. Jack DeBellis, McFarland, 2018 (161-167).
“Trends in James Baldwin Criticism 2010-2013.” James Baldwin Review, Volume 3, 2017 (186-202).
“South By Southeast: James Baldwin in Provence.” In Diasporas, Cultures of Mobility, “Race”: African Americans and the Black Diaspora. Montpellier, France: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2016 (167-177).
“Coda: The Heart of Baldwin,” in The Cambridge Companion to James Baldwin, ed. Michele Elam, Cambridge UP, 2016 (227-230).
"Going to Meet James Baldwin in Provence," in The James Baldwin Review, Vol. 1: 2015 (140-151).
"Post Cards and Mirrors: Fragmenting Retrospective Vietnam Narrative: Bobbie Ann Mason's In Country and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods." Critical Insights: Tim O'Brien, ed. Robert C. Evans. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2015 (237-253).
“The Rock Star’s Responsibility: Privacy, Industry, and Artistry in Novels by DeLillo, Lethem, and Franzen.” In Write in Tune: Contemporary Music in Fiction, ed. Erich Hertz and Jeffrey Roessner. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014 (241-253).
“Lost and…Found? James Baldwin’s Script and Spike Lee’s Malcolm X.” In African American Review 46.5: Winter, 2013 (671-685).
“Free Men in Paris: The Shared Sensibility of James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway.” In Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, ed. Gary Holcomb. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State UP, 2012 (120-132).
"Separate and Unequal in Paris: Notes of a Native Son and the Law." In James Baldwin: America and Beyond, ed. Cora Kaplan and Bill Schwartz. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan Press, 2011 (159-172).
“Vital Visions: Prison Literature and the Law.” In Teaching Literature and the Law. Ed. Cathrine Frank and Matthew Anderson. New York: Modern Language Association, 2010 (189-197).
“The Fire Next Time and the Law.” In African American Culture and Legal Discourse, ed. Lovalerie King and Richard Schur. London: Palgrave, 2009 (117-130).
“Using the Blues.” In The Oxford Historical Guide to James Baldwin. Ed. Douglas Field. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009 (83-110).
Creative Writing/Miscellaneous
- “The Body Painter” (short story), in Every Day Fiction (May 2, 2017).
- "Creation, Destruction" (short story), in Best of Microfiction Monday Magazine 2015, Blue Skirt Publishing, 2016 (23)
- "Life Without Wishes" (short story), in Every Day Fiction, May 13, 2015.
- "Outside" (short story), in Microfiction Monday Magazine, May 4, 2015. Reprinted in Best of Microfiction Monday Magazine 2015, 22.
- "James Baldwin: America's Prophet Resurrected." Cognoscenti, , WBUR (NPR Affiliate), February 16, 2015.
- "Portrait of the Artist as a Workaholic." Cognoscenti, , WBUR (NPR Affiliate), May 14, 2014.
- "The Brook Pool" (short story), in Bellevue Literary Review, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring, 2014), 102-113.
- "Top Ten List" (short story), in Every Day Fiction (August 8, 2013).
- "The Trouble with the Other N-Word" in The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 31, 2012).
- "Deep in the Brain" (short story) in Spilling Ink Review (Vol. 8, June 1, 2012).
- "Myoclonus of the Diaphragm" (short story) in Atticus Review (March 20, 2012).
- "Invisible Citizens: The Rights and Lives of Prisoners," in the ABC-Clio "Enduring Questions: Daily Lives Through History" series, 2011.
- "Carney" (short story) in Flashquake (10.3, Spring, 2011: 25-27).
- "3 X 2" (short story) Prick of the Spindle (4.4, Dec. 2010).
- "On the Road with the Final Four...Writers." The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 19, 2010.