John (Afterword by) Wright, Richard, (Author, Introduction by) , Reilly
NATIVE SON - PERENNIAL CLASSIC
Hardcover
(Harper & Row Aug. 16, 1966)
, Perennial Classic complete edition edition
Native Son (1940) is a novel written by the African American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic inevitability behind them. Bigger's lawyer, Boris Max, makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American since they are the necessary product of the society that formed them and told them since birth who exactly they were supposed to be.