-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Biography
by Lawrence P. Jackson
The definitive biography of the groundbreaking African American author who had an extraordinary legacy on black writers globally.
Winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work
A Washington Post Notable Book
Chester B. Himes has been called "one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition" (Henry Louis Gates Jr.), "the best writer of mayhem yarns since Raymond Chandler" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "a quirky American genius" (Walter Mosely). He was the twentieth century's most prolific black writer, captured the spirit of his times expertly, and left a distinctive mark on American literature. Yet today he stands largely forgotten.
In this definitive biography of Chester B. Himes (1909–1984), Lawrence P. Jackson uses exclusive interviews and unrestricted access to Himes's full archives to portray a controversial American writer whose novels unflinchingly confront sex, racism, and black identity. Himes brutally rendered racial politics in the best-selling novel If He Hollers Let Him Go, but he became famous for his Harlem detective series, including Cotton Comes to Harlem. A serious literary tastemaker in his day, Himes had friendships―sometimes uneasy―with such luminaries as Ralph Ellison, Carl Van Vechten, and Richard Wright.
Jackson's scholarship and astute commentary illuminates Himes's improbable life―his middle-class origins, his eight years in prison, his painful odyssey as a black World War II–era artist, and his escape to Europe for success. More than ten years in the writing, Jackson's biography restores the legacy of a fascinating maverick caught between his aspirations for commercial success and his disturbing, vivid portraits of the United States.
20 illustrations
Edgar Awards, 2018
"Dr. Jackson has presented a much needed view of an important Harlem writer. I had the pleasure of knowing Chester and most of the folk he knew. He was fun. He was good looking. And he was a wonderful story teller. Chester struggled, as most writers do, with being himself. But when he opened the special door to ‘Chester,' we all could peep inside to a special genius. He was old and I quite young when we met. He had a flashlight to let me see the way down what could have been a dark road. Chester Himes is to writing what Miles Davis is to the trumpet, what John Coltrane is to the saxophone, what lips are to love. I am so glad this research has been completed. Chester deserves this sun to cast his shadow over the library that is the hope of black Americans." - Nikki Giovanni
"A riveting, one-of-a-kind tale of a writer who saw the subject of race from odd, revealing angles." - Clifford Thompson, Wall Street Journal
"Chester B. Himes is a bracing journey through the life of an uncompromising writer." - Michael P. Jeffries, New York Times Book Review
"Fascinating…Jackson [is] a fluid writer." - Thomas Chatterton Williams, Harper's Magazine
"Makes a convincing case for a writer who's always been something of a tough sell…Jackson memorably characterizes Himes' great gifts as a writer." - Maureen Corrigan, NPR
"Jackson's book―big, intelligent and unflinching―is what literary biography looks like when it's done right." - Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle
This information about Chester B. Himes was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lawrence P. Jackson is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of English and History at Johns Hopkins University. Author of Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius, The Indignant Generation, and My Father's Name, he has been published in n+1 and Harper's. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
If you liked Chester B. Himes, try these:
by Jon Clinch
Published 2024
Ulysses S. Grant reflects on the crucial moments of his life as a husband, a father, a general, and a president while writing his memoirs and reckoning with his complicated legacy in this epic and intimate novel from the author of the "masterly" (The New York Times Book Review) novel Marley.
by Nell Irvin. Painter
Published 2024
From the New York Times bestselling author of The History of White People and Old in Art School, a finalist for the NBCC Award, comes a comprehensive new collection of essays spanning art, politics, and the legacy of racism that shapes American history as we know it.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
by Honorée Fannone Jeffers
Published 2022
The 2020 National Book Award–nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic - an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer - that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War ...
Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
