Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work
Finalist for the PEN America/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
The definitive biography of the groundbreaking African American author who had an extraordinary legacy on black writers globally.
Trade Review"A riveting, one-of-a-kind tale of a writer who saw the subject of race from odd, revealing angles." -- Clifford Thompson - Wall Street Journal
"
Chester B. Himes is a bracing journey through the life of an uncompromising writer." -- Michael P. Jeffries - New York Times Book Review
"Fascinating…Jackson [is] a fluid writer." -- Thomas Chatterton Williams - Harper's Magazine
"Makes a convincing case for a writer who's always been something of a tough sell…Jackson memorably characterizes Himes' great gifts as a writer." -- Maureen Corrigan - NPR
"Jackson’s book—big, intelligent and unflinching—is what literary biography looks like when it’s done right." -- Kevin Canfield - San Francisco Chronicle
"Comprehensive." -- Alex Belth - Esquire
"Dr. Jackson has presented a much needed view of an important Harlem writer. I had the pleasure of knowing Chester and most of the folk he knew. He was fun. He was good looking. And he was a wonderful story teller. Chester struggled, as most writers do, with being himself. But when he opened the special door to ‘Chester,’ we all could peep inside to a special genius. He was old and I quite young when we met. He had a flashlight to let me see the way down what could have been a dark road. Chester Himes is to writing what Miles Davis is to the trumpet, what John Coltrane is to the saxophone, what lips are to love. I am so glad this research has been completed. Chester deserves this sun to cast his shadow over the library that is the hope of black Americans." -- Nikki Giovanni
