Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dead at 88

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in "Beloved," ''Sula" and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race, has died at age 88.Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced that Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York after a brief illness."Toni Morrison passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends," Morr