“I think, you know, I was coming of age in the late ’70s and consuming TV and movies, and that was, like, you know, plenty of time for the revolutionary fervor of Black national thought of the late ’60s, early ’70s to trickle into, you know, pop culture…So it’s through pop culture, and obviously, the history of the Black Panther Party was not being taught in my high school. I think – I assume most high schools. And now it’s, you know, I think, illegal to teach Black history in certain states and cities. So it wasn’t till college I, you know, got sort of more grounding on some of the real arguments and what different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement actually meant and what they did.” ― Colson Whitehead, Interview NPR Fresh Air
What booksellers are saying about Crook Manifesto
- Whitehead continues his epic series started in Harlem Shuffle with Crook Manifesto exploring the hot mess that is 1970s Harlem. After being square for years, Ray Carney gets back in the game while trying to get Jackson 5 concert tickets for his daughter. This book is even more fun than the first with a cast of characters including fire-obsessed criminals, crooked politicians, dirty cops, and the cast and crew of a Blaxploitation film. Highly recommend.
― Rachel Watkins from Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA | Buy from Avid Bookshop
- Take a trip to 1971, when times were turbulent. Ray Carney is in the black market with stolen furniture. That is until he turns to the straight and narrow. He will not make that mistake again he says. Well his precious daughter needs tickets to the Jackson 5 and what is a dad to do? This darkly funny tale searching for the meaning of family, is remarkable. Colton is just a phenomenal author.
― Suzanne Lucey from Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC | Buy from Page 158 Books
- Ray Carney, the protagonist of Harlem Shuffle, is the perfect vehicle for Colson Whitehead’s masterful storytelling, and I’m thrilled that he’s back, in Crook Manifesto’s 1970s New York City. The author has created a sharp, endearing, and morally complicated character, but the city itself, in its decaying glory, is also a star here.
― Anne Peck from Righton Books in St Simons Island, GA | Buy from Righton Books
About Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, for The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad, which also won the National Book Award. A recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.
