Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. dj. Hardcover first edition - A book which attempts to uncover the truth behind the legend of Stack Lee and the incident that led to murder in 1895. Brown tracks the legend through variants of the song "from early ragtime versions of the '20s, to Mississippi John Hurt's rendition in the '30s, to John Lomax's 1940s prison versions, to interpretations by Lloyd Price, James Brown, and Wilson Pickett, right up to the hip-hop renderings of the '90s. Drawing upon the works of James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison, he describes the powerful influence of a legend bigger than literature, one whose transformation reflects changing views of black musical forms, and African Americans' altered attitudes toward black male identity, gender, and police brutality." Notes, bibliography, index. viii, 296 pp. ISBN: 0-674010566.