Philadelphia Fire - by John Edgar Wideman (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Philadelphia Fire, now with a new introduction by prominent scholar and award-winning writer Imani Perry, is a masterful culturally significant work that takes on a 1985 police bombing in Philadelphia, which targeted the Black liberation group known as MOVE. At the heart of the novel is Cudjoe, a writer and exile returned to his old neighborhood, who becomes obsessed with the search for a young boy seen running from the flames. One of Wideman's most ambitious and celebrated works, Philadelphia Fire depicts a brutally honest journey through uniquely American despair.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>One of John Wideman's most ambitious and celebrated works, the lyrical masterpiece and PEN/Faulkner winner inspired by the 1985 police bombing of the West Philadelphia row house owned by black liberation group Move.</b> <p/>In 1985, police bombed a West Philadelphia row house owned by the Afrocentric cult known as Move, killing eleven people and starting a fire that destroyed sixty other houses. At the heart of <i>Philadelphia Fire</i> is Cudjoe, a writer and exile who returns to his old neighborhood after spending a decade fleeing from his past, and who becomes obsessed with the search for a lone survivor of the event: a young boy seen running from the flames. <p/>Award-winning author John Edgar Wideman brings these events and their repercussions to shocking life in this seminal novel. "Reminiscent of Ralph Ellison's <i>Invisible Man</i>" (<i>Time</i>) and Norman Mailer's <i>The Executioner's Song</i>, <i>Philadelphia Fire </i>is a masterful, culturally significant work that takes on a major historical event and takes us on a brutally honest journey through the despair and horror of life in urban America.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"Daring and award-winning ... Wideman's quasi-cubist approach to storytelling -- full of angular sentence shards and deft rule-breaking -- explores multiple facets of the tragedy and sometimes drags the reader and the author himself onto the page."<br> --<i><b>Philadelphia Inquirer</b></i> <p/>"A passionate, angry and formally fascinating novel of urban disintegration."<br> --<i><b>The New York Times Book Review</b></i> <p/> "A book brimming over with brutal, emotional honesty and moments of beautiful prose lyricism."<br> --<i><b>Washington Post Book World</b></i> <p/> "A blaze of rage... Wideman's genius for impassioned imagery triumphs."<br> --<i><b>Los Angeles Times Book Review</b></i> <p/> "<i>Philadelphia Fire</i> isn't a book you read so much as one you breathe."<br> --<b><i>San Francisco Chronicle</i></b> <p/> "A pyrotechnic display... Wideman charges his sentence with energy that flares into beauty at unexpected moments... [His] work reflects extraordinary talent, will, and courage." <br> --<i><b>Boston Globe</b></i> <p/> "Very few writers have Wideman's gifts and range. His artistic courage is rare these days."<br> --<i><b>Philadelphia Inquirer</b></i> <p/> "Like the Russian master [Dostoyevsky], Wideman probes the torments of the soul... Powerful."<br> --<i><b>U.S. News & World Report</b></i><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br>John Edgar Wideman's books include, among others, <i>American Histories</i>, <i>Writing to Save a Life</i>, <i>Brothers and Keepers</i>, <i>Philadelphia Fire</i>, <i>Fatheralong</i>, <i>Hoop Roots</i>, and <i>Sent for You Yesterday</i>. He won the PEN/Faulkner Award twice and has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and National Book Award. He is a MacArthur Fellow and a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. He divides his time between New York and France.
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