Not Without Laughter (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781454964797)

Langston Hughes's debut novel, a moving portrait of African American family life in 1930s Kansas, newly reissued for Union Square & Co.'s Herald Classics line.

Originally published in 1930, Not Without Laughter 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.

Partly inspired by Langston Hughes's early life in the Midwest, Not Without Laughter 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.


Author: Langston Hughes
ISBN-10: 1454964790
ISBN-13: 9781454964797
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Language: English
Published: 02/03/2026
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Size: 8.25h x 5.38w x 0.62d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6.6
Point Value: 13
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 74684 / Not Without Laughter