Of One Blood

(Paperback)

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Description

A mixed-race Harvard medical student stumbles upon a hidden Ethiopian city, the inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers. Long before Marvel Comics gave us Wakanda, a high-tech African country that has never been colonized, this 1903 novel gave readers Reuel Briggs-a mixed-race Harvard medical student, passing as white, who stumbles upon Telassar. In this long-hidden Ethiopian city, the wise, peaceful inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers, Reuel discovers the incredible secret of his own birth. Now, he must decide whether to return to the life he's built, and the woman he loves, back in America-or play a role in helping Telassar take its rightful place on the world stage. Considered one of the earliest articulations of Black internationalism, Of One Blood takes as its theme the notion that race is a social construct perpetuated by racists. Minister Faust is best known as author of The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (2004) and 2007's Kindred Award-winning From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (retitled Shrinking the Heroes, it also received the Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation). An award-winning journalist, community organizer, teacher, and workshop designer, Faust is also a former television host and producer, radio broadcaster, and podcaster. His 2011 TEDx talk, "The Cure For Death by Smalltalk," has been viewed more than 840,000 times.

Reviews

"Hopkins was a pioneering Black intellectual, playwright and magazine editor who used her considerable literary talents to rally support for the cause of racial justice. In 'Of One Blood,' the last of her four novels, she blends multiple subgenres into what is an exceptionally entertaining work of popular fiction, albeit one with a serious subtext: race."
The Washington Post Book World

"Helps to tell a story of Black American literature that reflects the infinite number of ways of being Black in America and of being in the world. . .This sprawling work of speculative fiction resists paraphrase, but whats important is that it helped spawn a vast contemporary tradition."
The New York Times

"Hopkins fiction innovated in its time with lasting impact. It planted imaginative seeds that sprouted far down the next century of storytelling. . . .In short, she was a powerhouse, an innovator and an intellectual dynamo."
Ms.

Hopkins transports readers to a technologically advanced, hidden city in Ethiopia thats remained free of colonialist influences and oppression.
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Author Bio

Pauline Hopkins (1859-1930), an African American journalist and editor of Boston's The Colored American Magazine, was the author of four novels- Contending Forces- A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South (1900), Hagar's Daughter- A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice (1901-1902), Winona- A Tale of Negro Life in the South and Southwest (1902-1903), and Of One Blood (1903). Her work illuminated African history, racial injustice, and women's liberation, earning her a reputation as a key public intellectual of her time. Minister Faust is best known as author of The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad and 2007's Kindred Award-winning From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (retitled Shrinking the Heroes). which also received the Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation. An award-winning journalist, community organizer, teacher, and workshop designer, Faust is also a former television host and producer, radio broadcaster, and podcaster. His 2011 TEDx talk, "The Cure for Death by Smalltalk," has been viewed more than 840,000 times.