Strange fruit,: A novel

Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944-01-01. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Hardcover, Stated Seventh Printing Reynal & Hitchcock 314 pages. Very Good, in a Good DJ. Minor shelf/edge wear and dark spotting to dark blue cloth boards with yellow and white titles - corners bumped. Moderate shelf/edge wear, dust soiling and a large chip missing from the spine bottom of the original unclipped DJ - now in mylar. Previous owner name on inside front cover. Deckled edges. Strange Fruit is a 1944 bestselling novel debut by American author Lillian Smith that deals with the then-forbidden and controversial theme of interracial romance. In her autobiography, singer Billie Holiday wrote that Smith chose to name the book after her song "Strange Fruit", which was about the lynching and racism against African Americans. Smith maintained the book's title referred to the damaged, twisted people (both black and white) who are the products or results of our racist culture. After the book's release, the book was banned in Boston and Detroit for "lewdness" and crude language. Strange Fruit was also banned from being mailed through the U.S. Postal Service until President Franklin D. Roosevelt interceded at his wife Eleanor's request. Respectable vintage copy in original DJ. LOC SSS-17