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The House Behind the Cedars

Name: The House Behind the Cedars
Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
ISBN: 9780140186857

by Charles W. Chesnutt, Donald Gibson (Editor), Donald B. Gibson

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Overview

The House Behind the Cedars tells of John and Lena Walden, mulatto siblings who pass for white in the postbellum American South. The drama that unfolds as they travel between black and white worlds constitutes a riveting portrait of the shifting and intractable nature of race in American life. This edition revitalizes a much-neglected masterpiece by one of our most important African-American writers.

Synopsis

Originally published in 1900, this groundbreaking novel by a distinguished African-American author recounts the drama of a brother and sister who "pass for white" during the dangerous days of Reconstruction.

About the Author, Charles W. Chesnutt

Charles W. Chesnutt, born in 1858, is generally acknowledged as the first publicly acclaimed African American novelist. Between 1885 and 1905 he published more than fifty tales and essays, two collections of short stories, a biography of Frederick Douglass, and three novels.