Part cultural history, part ethnography, part memoir, Spoken Word is an exploration of one of the world's oldest artforms.

Part cultural history, part ethnography, part memoir, Spoken Word explores the history of the western world's oldest form of literary expression, from its unifying role in ethnic minority communities to its ability to give a young black man a voice in society.

Joshua Bennett takes us on electrifying journey, from the epic poems of The Iliad and The Odyssey to social scene of 19th century Philadelphia to today's contemporary black storytellers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Saul Williams and even Pulitzer-prize-winning Kendrick Lamar, to discover the personal and the political in the art of poetry.

This book will tell the tale of spoken word poetry's rise from local pastime to global phenomenon.