Native Son
by Wright, Richard
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good/Fair
- Seller
-
Evanston, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York : Harper and Brothers, 1940. Hardcover. Good/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾"- 9¾" tall. A stated sixth printing/edition of this classic. Good, with some fading to title on spine and sort of a wave to the text block. Binding overall quite solid. In a fair jacket with significant loss to spine. In protective mylar.
Synopsis
Richard Wright’s Native Son tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black American youth living in utter poverty in Chicago's South Side during the 1930s. When Bigger unintentionally murders a white woman, he is put on trial and eventually convicted, and sentenced to the electric chair. Often recognized as a protest novel, Native Son stresses systemic racial issues, prompting the reader to feel both sympathy and empathy for Bigger. In this, the novel is one of the earliest successful attempts to explain the racial divide in America in terms of the conditions imposed on African-Americans by the dominant white society. Soon after publication, Native Son was selected by the Book of the Month Club as its first book by an African-American author. Indeed, the novel was an immediate best seller, selling 250,000 hardcover copies within three weeks of its publication. As a result of the novel’s success, Wright became the first bestselling and the wealthiest black writer of his time, establishing him as a spokesperson for African-American issues and, to many, the “father of Black American literature.” In 1941, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Wright awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal. Unsurprisingly, Native Son was challenged in many public schools and libraries and is listed in the American Library Association's list of the “Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999.” Yet most institutions in which the novel was challenged successfully fought to keep Wright's work accessible, particularly in the classroom, defending it as a guide into the reality of the complex adult and social world. Native son is listed as 20th on the Modern Library’s list of the “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. It is also included in TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).
Read More: Identifying first editions of Native Son
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Details
- Bookseller
- Books, Interesting and Odd & Sleepyside Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 003840
- Title
- Native Son
- Author
- Wright, Richard
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fair
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Harper and Brothers
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Pages
- 359
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾"- 9&fr
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- African American Interest;
Terms of Sale
Books, Interesting and Odd & Sleepyside Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives mis-described or is damaged in transit.
About the Seller
Books, Interesting and Odd & Sleepyside Books
Biblio member since 2019
Evanston, Illinois
About Books, Interesting and Odd & Sleepyside Books
Sleepyside Books specializes in Modern First Editions, Rare Children's titles and Juvenile Series. It is run by two long-time collectors who place great importance on quality, value and condition. We have much inventory that has not yet been cataloged (especially the juvenile series books) so please call or email if you're looking for something special!
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Fair
- is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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