The Man Who Lived Underground: A Novel [Paperback]

New York TimesBestseller One of the Best Books of the Year:Timemagazine,Chicago Tribune,Boston Globe,andEsquire One of Oprahs 15 Favorite Books of the Year

From the legendary author ofNative SonandBlack Boy,the novel he was unable to publish during his lifetimean explosive story of racism, injustice, brutality, and survival. Not just Wright's masterwork, but also a milestone in African American literature . . . One of those indispensable works that reminds all its readers that, whether we are in the flow of life or somehow separated from it, above- or belowground, we are all human. (Gene Seymour, CNN.com)

The Man Who Lived Undergroundreminds us that any greatest writers of the 20th century list that doesnt start and end with Richard Wright is laughable. It might very well be Wrights most brilliantly crafted, and ominously foretelling, book.Kiese Laymon

Fred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a false confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the citys sewer system.

This is the devastating premise of Richard Wright's scorching work of social commentary,The Man Who Lived Underground,written between his landmark booksNative Son(1940) andBlack Boy(1945), at the height of his creative powers. Now, for the first time, by special arrangement between the Library of America and the authors estate, the full text of the work that meant more to Wright than any other (I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration) is published in the form that he intended, complete with his companion essay, Memories of My Grandmother. Malcolm Wright, the authors grandson, contributes an afterword.

The power and pain of Wright’s writing are evident in this wrenching nl/