Strivers Row: A Novel - Softcover

Baker, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060955198 ISBN 13: 9780060955199

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

The Rev. Jonah Dove is the son of a legendary Harlem minister, and a man troubled in both mind and spirit. He feels himself unworthy and incapable of taking up the burden of running his church from the larger–than–life figure who is his father. He is haunted both by his own, shameful history of "passing" as a white man in college, and by the prospects for his people in the harsh, new, racist age he fears the world is entering. Malcolm Little –– better known as Malcom X –– is a teenage hustler from Lansing, Michigan by way of Boston, a young man on the make, trying always to be something bigger, tougher, savvier, and more confident than he really is.

On his way to New York, Malcolm happens to come to the rescue of Jonah and his wife, Amanda, when they are attacked by some drunken soldiers on the train. From then on, their paths cross repeatedly as they each go about trying to find what they really want out of the roiling, wartime city, until the moment when Harlem finally erupts around them, as a people driven beyond endurance strikes out blindly at all the forces keeping it entrapped in misery and hopelessness. Stranded on the streets of a rioting city, Jonah and Malcolm meet each other once more, as they come to grips with what they are and what the future will hold for them.

About this title

About the Author

Kevin Baker is the bestselling author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Sometimes You See It Coming. He is a columnist for American Heritage magazine and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Ellen Abrams, and their cat, Stella.

From AudioFile

It's Harlem during WWII, and history is unfolding around the fledgling Malcolm X and other true-life figures, including the obsessively sloppy Collyer brothers. This novel completes the trilogy that has so far given us the bestselling Dreamland and Paradise Alley. The epic ends here on an upbeat. In Penny's deep, melodic tones we hear and imagine the cacophony of riots; the sad, syrupy comfort of jazz; the mournful pipe organ of religious doubt. The address of the title--buildings constructed originally for whites, of course--is described as "perhaps the most beautiful block in the entire city." Startled? The book is crammed with surprising facts. A lively education given passionate voice. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060955198
• ISBN 13: 9780060955199
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 550