Richard Wright's powerful and eloquent memoir of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South—at once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment, Black Boy is a poignant and disturbing record of social injustice and human suffering. This 75th anniversary edition will have a beautiful new cover and will include a new introduction.
When Black Boy exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, it caused a sensation. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Opposing forces felt compelled to comment: addressing Congress, Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi argued that the purpose of this book “was to plant seeds of hate and devilment in the minds of every American.” From 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”
The once controversial, now classic American autobiography measures the brutality and rawness of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive. Richard Wright grew up in the woods of Mississippi, with poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and raged at those about him; at six he was a “drunkard,” hanging about in taverns. Surly, brutal, cold, suspicious, and self-pitying, he was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common lot. The second half of the book focuses on Wright’s move north to Chicago, and his experiences with the Communist Party (a section that was pulled from the book’s original publication).
Black Boy is Richard Wright's compelling account of his journey. Deeply affecting and beautifully written, it is as timely today as when it was first published seventy-five years ago.
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Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 0.72. Seller Inventory # bk0062964135xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.72. Seller Inventory # 353-0062964135-new
Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. "Superb. . . . A great American writer speaks with his own voice about matters that still resonate at the center of our lives." -New York Times Book ReviewA striking new edition of Richard Wright's powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the authors grandson.When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy. Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for obscenity and instigating hatred between the races.Wrights once controversial, now celebrated autobiography measures the raw brutality of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive as a black boy. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him-whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel and blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he may his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of Black Boy, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo. More than seventy-five year later, his words continue to reverberate. To read Black Boy is to stare into the heart of darkness, John Edgar Wideman writes in his foreword. Not the dark heart Conrad searched for in Congo jungles but the beating heart I bear.One of the great American memoirs, Wrights account is a poignant record of struggle and endurance-a seminal literary work that illuminates our own time. Seller Inventory # DADAX0062964135
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780062964137
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Black Boy [seventy-Fifth Anniversary Edition] 0.7. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780062964137
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