Eight Men

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“[Wright’s] landscape was not merely that of the Deep South, or of Chicago, but that of the world, of the human heart.” –James Baldwin

Here, in these powerful stories, Richard Wright takes readers into this landscape once again.

Each of the eight stories in Eight Men focuses on a black man at violent odds with a white world, reflecting Wright’s views about racism in our society and his fascination with what he called “the struggle of the individual in America.” These poignant, gripping stories will captivate all those who loved Black Boy and Native Son.

Here, in these powerful stories, Richard Wright takes readers into this landscape once again.

Each of the eight stories in Eight Men focuses on a black man at violent odds with a white world, reflecting Wright’s views about racism in our society and his fascination with what he called “the struggle of the individual in America.” These poignant, gripping stories will captivate all those who loved Black Boy and Native Son.

“All eight men and all eight stories stand as beautifully, pitifully, terribly true. Some readers will be shocked by it for it presents straightforwardly a brilliant Black American’s point of view. Many more readers will be uplifted and encouraged by it. . . . All the way through this is fine, sound, good, honorable writing, rich with insight and understanding, even when occasionally twisted by sorrow. Each story centers on a Black man involved cruelly with his surroundings, beaten down by them; each central figure is one way or another misunderstood by the world he knows; a few misunderstand and misinterpret that world. Altogether the eight men of these stories have in common a desperate . . . heroism.”

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