Native Son

Richard Wright

Jun 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

“If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

This edition of Native Son includes an essay by Wright titled, How "Bigger" was Born, along with notes on the text.

Ratings and reviews

It's been about 20 years since I read this novel....I was a sophomore in college and had just begun to immerse myself into the world of Richard Nathaniel Wright. In order to fully appreciate what it has to offer, I may read it again one day. However, no book of his or really any other African American writer has anything on Black B oy....my all-time favorite by this genius.

I felt it was an honest portrayal of the emotional side of dormant oppression though I havent felt this to bigger Thomas' extreme but being a black man I get it.

Man Richard Wright became one of my favorite authors after this book...

About the author

Richard Wright won international renown for his powerful and visceral depiction of the black experience. He stands today alongside such African-American luminaries as Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, and two of his novels, Native Son and Black Boy, are required reading in high schools and colleges across the nation. He died in 1960.