Items related to The Sum of His Worth
Synopsis
In this coming-of-age story of heroism and murder, a prize-winning author chronicles his Alabama teen years during the 1960's bloody Civil Rights Movement in a "profound, engrossing ... heartbreakingly real novel of the South" [Kirkus Reviews].
In the nighttime woods before young Sonny Poe starts ninth grade,he witnesses the grotesque beating and lynching of a black boy. He escapes, but his life is now irrevocably changed.
Sonny lives in terror of being found out by the town's Klan. Fatherless and desperate for guidance, he attaches his hopes of survival onto a doctor with a crusading spirit, a man who will turn Sonny's and his own mysterious life upside down in a tension-fueled journey of betrayal, corruption and hate that can only end in tragedy--and hope.
"Ron Argo's latest novel, The Sum of His Worth, is an unusual and highly charged combination of social fiction and coming-of-age story. It stars a young man named Sonny Poe, whose ordinary teenage preoccupations are complicated by the fact that his small hometown - Woodstock, Alabama in the 1960s - is a stronghold of the KKK and a boiling cauldron of both racism and nascent activism.
"Sonny is taken under the tutelage of a passionate racially-crusading doctor, and the bulk of the novel follows them as they encounter all the violence and hatred their racist townsfolk can throw at them.
"Argo does an excellent job humanizing his characters and bringing all the tensions of the era vividly to life - while simultaneously giving readers a very affecting portrait of young Sonny's high-school years. Argo doesn't flinch from the raw nature of his subject matter, and his skillful narration makes this a visceral, memorable novel."--Historical Novels Society Review"Electrifying and hugely entertaining, The Sum of His Worth is a well-crafted novels with powerful themes that reminded me of the writings of Richard Wright and Langston Hughes, a work that brilliantly showcases the racial atmosphere in Alabama in the 60s.
"The author has a great gift for both plot and character, and the themes are masterfully woven into the intricacies of the action-packed plot.
"Disturbing and raw, you won't put it down, even if your heart bleeds at times." Arya Fomonyuy, Readers'Favorite 5 Stars
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From the Inside Flap
50 YEARS AGO AMERICAN HISTORY CHANGED WITH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE BRUTAL BACKLASH THAT FOLLOWED. IN THE SOUTH, NEGROES WON THEIR FREEDOM—AGAIN.BUT HOW MUCH HAVE THINGS REALLY CHANGED? THE SUM OF HIS WORTH “No reader will fail to come out of it unchanged.” – Sharon Skains, author of Waltzing With the Devil This Southern gothic novel takes us into the heart of the tumultuous 1960s in an Alabama town immersed in the tradition of Jim Crow. Here, the KKK is judge, jury and executioner.Sonny Poe is a defiant, white sixteen-year-old who's generally heedless to the oppression of blacks—until he witnesses a Klan lynching in the midnight woods. Then everything in his life changes.Sonny takes up with a progressive doctor who leads the fight to help local blacks turn around the brutal abuse that's haunted their town for generations. The headstrong teenager commits himself to an equally headstrong “Doctor Joe” even as both of them suffer betrayals, beatings, arrest and finally exile in a story that can only end in tragedy.This edgy thriller pulsates with violence, love, betrayal and humor in a narrative of rising tension that hurls us through one of America's most pressing historical moments toward its shocking climax.The Civil Rights Movement forms the backbone of The Sum of His Worth, but the novel's strength comes from the voice of its young narrator and its strongest theme lies in the caveats of moral reckoning in a “free” society.“... Jim Crow was interwoven with growing up in small-town Southern life. Argo has captured this nuance ... Here, courage is not a single act, but an ongoing commitment that can separate one from everything that is deeply loved.” — Colonel Michael Moran, novelist, USMC (Ret)
About the Author
In the late 1980s, Ronald Argo published one of the more important novels on Vietnam, Year of the Monkey, a story that paints a comprehensive and human canvas of the war. Before and after he served as a military correspondent in LBJ's war, he had worked as a psych-ward aide, a prize-winning photographer, a Florida Keys boat captain, a special-needs bus driver, a stock trader and an award-winning newspaper reporter, and a restorer of old houses. Those among other constructive and nefarious occupations.
Argo is the author of The Courage to Kill and The Sum of His Worth, both historical thriller novels, and both recipients of several notices and awards for literary fiction. His latest novel, Baby Love (2016), is the second in the Ray Myers thrillers, following Myers' exploits as he chases a baby smuggling ring into the badlands of Baja Norte. He spent some time working for three university degrees including a bachelors in Journalism, the Masters in English Lit and the MFA.
Argo lives with Mary and his cow dog in a small community of San Diego where he tends his garden and writes.
Please visit Ron Argo's website at ronargo.com.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCliff Edge Publishing
- Publication date2014
- ISBN 10 0989403572
- ISBN 13 9780989403573
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages376
- EditorSteve Klein
- IllustratorRenato Prete
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