New York:: Harcourt Brace & Company,, (1997.). SIGNED hardcover first edition -. Fine in fine dust jacket (as new.). First printing. While 'everyone' in Chicago knew his father, Gifford, whose parents were separated when he was 8, did not know him well. This picture of his father, sometimes a dangerous man, is based on his scattered memories of childhood and his attempt to understand him now. SIGNED on the title page. Photographs. 257 pp.

Synopsis

Ruby Wilson, Barry Gifford's father, ran an all night liquor store/drugstore in Chicago, next door to the Club Alabama, where Barry used to watch showgirls rehearse on Saturday afternoons. Some mornings he ate breakfast at the small lunch counter in the store, dunking doughnuts with the organ-grinders' monkey. Other times he rode with his father to small towns in Illinois, where Ruby would meet someone while Barry waited for him in a diner. Everybody who was anybody in Chicago in the 30s, 40s, and 50s knew Barry Winston. Ruby Winston separated from Barry's mother when Barry was eight, married agaid (as did his mother), and died when Barry was twelve, leaving behind an elusive but powerful imprint, a constant, translucent presence. The Phantom Father explores the many sides of his unique bounty that remain in Barry Gifford's life-the allure and excitement of his father's world, the mystery he left in Barry's life, and the yearning to understand what he left behind. When Barry was a teenager, a friend of his asked, "Your father was a killer, wasn't he?" There is no easy answer to that question. Ruby Winston was a good man to know, and sometimes a dangerous man to know, but he was always a fascinating man to know.

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Details

Bookseller: Bookfever.com, IOBA (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 38574
Title: THE PHANTOM FATHER: A Memoir.
Author: Gifford, Barry
Format/Binding: SIGNED hardcover first edition -
Book Condition: New
Jacket Condition: fine
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0151002509
ISBN 13: 9780151002504
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company,
Place of Publication: New York:
Date Published: (1997.)
Keywords: chicago, underworld,
Bookseller catalogs: Biography, autobiography, memoirs;

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Title Page: A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
First Edition: In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...