Lesson Before Dying Prebound - 1999

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 Lesson Before Dying
• Author Ernest J. Gaines
• Binding Prebound
• Edition [ Edition: First
• Pages 272
• Volumes 1
• Language ENG
• Publisher Turtleback Books
• Date October 1999
• ISBN 9780785769811 / 0785769811
• Weight 0.69 lbs (0.31 kg)
• Dimensions 8.04 x 5.16 x 0.81 in (20.42 x 13.11 x 2.06 cm)
• Reading level 750
• Themes
  • Chronological Period: 1940's
  • Cultural Region: Gulf Coast
  • Cultural Region: South
  • Ethnic Orientation: African American
  • Geographic Orientation: Louisiana
• Library of Congress subjects Louisiana, African American men
• Library of Congress Catalog Number 93042201
• Dewey Decimal Code FIC