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Cities of the Plain
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Cities of the Plain Unknown - 1998

by Cormac McCarthy

About this book

Cities of the Plain is the final volume of American novelist Cormac McCarthy's The Border Trilogy. The title is a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. The novel brings together John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses and Billy Parnham from The Crossing. Cities of the Plain focuses on Parnham's doomed relationship with a young Mexican prostitute.

From the publisher

In this magnificent new novel, the National Book Award-winning author of All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing fashions a darkly beautiful elegy for the American frontier.
The setting is New Mexico in 1952, where John Grady Cole and Billy Parham are working as ranch hands. To the North lie the proving grounds of Alamogordo; to the South, the twin cities of El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. Their life is made up of trail drives and horse auctions and stories told by campfire light. It is a life that is about to change forever, and John Grady and Billy both know it.
The catalyst for that change appears in the form of a beautiful, ill-starred Mexican prostitute. When John Grady falls in love, Billy agrees--against his better judgment--to help him rescue the girl from her suavely brutal pimp. The ensuing events resonate with the violence and inevitability of classic tragedy. Hauntingly beautiful, filled with sorrow, humor and awe, Cities of the Plain is a genuine American epic.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

First Edition Identification

Cities of the Plain was first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1998. The first edition has reviews on the back dust jacket from Kurt Tidmore and Robert Hass. The retail." price was $24.00, and "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page. 

 One thousand copies were issued with a special signed limitation page tipped in for "friends of the author and publisher." 


Details

  • Title Cities of the Plain
  • Author Cormac McCarthy
  • Binding unknown
  • Publisher Books on Tape
  • Date 1998
  • ISBN 9781415918586

About the author

Cormac McCarthy received the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for All the Pretty Horses.
READER BIO
Brad Pitt's film credits include Thelma and Louise, A River Runs Through It, Interview With the Vampire, Seven, Legends of the Fall, and Seven Years in Tibet. For his performance in Twelve Monkeys, he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor.
Brad Pitt has read All The Pretty Horses and The Crossing, both written by Cormac McCarthy, both published by Random House AudioBooks.

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