{"product_id":"not-without-laughter-herald-classics","title":"Not Without Laughter","description":"\u003cb\u003eLangston Hughes's debut novel, a moving portrait of African American family life in 1930s Kansas, newly reissued for Union Square \u0026amp; Co.’s Herald Classics line.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Originally published in 1930, \u003ci\u003eNot Without Laughter\u003c\/i\u003e follows Sandy Rogers as a boy living in rural Kansas to his arrival in Chicago as a young man, set against a backdrop of poverty, racial segregation, and the onset of World War I. Orbiting Sandy are a host of vividly realized family members, including his mother Annjee, a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his irresponsible father Jimboy, who plays guitar and is constantly in search of work; his aunts, blues-singing Aunt Harriet and social-climbing Aunt Tempy; and his pious, strong-willed grandmother Hager, who holds the generations together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Partly inspired by Langston Hughes’s early life in the Midwest, \u003ci\u003eNot Without Laughter\u003c\/i\u003e is the debut novel of the literary giant, a sweeping and elegiac family drama that traces Black life in the early twentieth century, an important setting in the history of a racially divided America. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484264538485,"sku":"9781454964797","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781454964797.jpg?v=1786266317","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/not-without-laughter-herald-classics","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}