A Lesson Before Dying Hardcover - 1993

A Lesson Before Dying was published in 1993 by author Ernest J. Gaines.

This novel provides a glimpse into the Jim Crow South between WWII and leading up to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Grant is the only formally-educated black man in the area and is frustrated over the limitations set upon him because of the color of his skin, as well as the overwhelming obligations to use his knowledge to help his townspeople. It is based on the true story of Willie Francis, a young black American man best known for surviving a failed execution by a malfunctioned electrocution in the state of Louisiana, during 1945 and 1947.

It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1993. It was also the October 1997 choice of Oprah's Book Club.

Details

• Title A Lesson Before Dying
• Author Ernest J. Gaines
• Binding Hardcover
• Edition First Edition
• Pages 256
• Volumes 1
• Language ENG
• Publisher Knopf Publishing Group, New York
• Date 1993
• ISBN 9780679414773 / 0679414770
• Weight 1.06 lbs (0.48 kg)
• Dimensions 8.53 x 5.99 x 1.06 in (21.67 x 15.21 x 2.69 cm)
• Reading level 750
• Library of Congress subjects Historical fiction, African American men
• Library of Congress Catalog Number 92020335
• Dewey Decimal Code FIC