Siege

384 pages. ?The bridges linking Manhattan Island with the outside world began blowing at precisely twelve minutes after three??Thus begins a novel that is like reading tomorrow morning?s newspaper today.A great city lies under siege ? and the natio n is powerless to help it.An expertly trained black militant army has taken over the island of Manhattan. Their a separate state for American Negroes.The hero i s Major General Stanley Shawcross, the brilliant black military leader of the ta keover. The political leader of the rebellion is William Gray, a dedicated, seem ingly fearless agitator who will use any means to win freedom for American black s. His ?enforcer,? Raymond Carpenter, is a militant poet ? and terrorist.Set aga inst these men are a President whose understanding of black frustration makes hi s dilemma even more excruciating; a terrified Mayor who seems unable to act deci sively; a black U.S. Army Colonel who is convinced that separatism is the wrong answer for black Americans.These are the characters who converge and clash durin g the three bloody days of the siege, in which the country?s racial polarization becomes frighteningly clear. You will see how the takeover is planned, prepared for, and carried off. The story builds from page to page, chapter to chapter as the conflicting forces threaten to tear America apart.…