African American Arts & Entertainment, American & Canadian Literature, Teen Fiction, Fiction Subjects, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction

Native Son

Name: Native Son
Author: Richard Wright
ISBN: 9780606011280

by Richard Wright

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Overview

Widely acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on race and class division in America, this powerful novel reflects the forces of poverty, injustice, and hopelessness that continue to shape our society. Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny: by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country.

About the Author, Richard Wright

Richard Wright

A trailblazing African-American novelist, playwright, and memoirist, Richard A. Wright brought the experiences of the twentieth-century ghetto into the realm of high art with his blockbuster 1940 novel Native Son. He went on to mix autobiography and fiction, and to become one of the most celebrated writers -- black or white -- of his era.

Biography

Richard Wright won international renown for his powerful and visceral depiction of the black experience. He stands today alongside such African-American luminaries as Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, and two of his novels, Native Son and Black Boy, are required reading in high schools and colleges across the nation. He died in 1960.

Author biography courtesy of HarperCollins.