Writing to Save a Life

When Emmett Till was murdered aged fourteen for allegedly whistling at a white woman, photographs of his destroyed face became a flashpoint in the civil rights movement. A decade earlier Emmett's father, Louis, had also been killed - court-martialled and hanged. Though the circumstances could hardly have been more different, behind both deaths stood the same crime, of being black. In Writing to Save a Life , John Edgar Wideman, born the same year as Emmett Till, investigates the tragic fates of father and son. Mixing research, memoir and imagination, this book is an essential commentary on racism in America - illuminating, humane and profound.

Product details

• Authors: John Edgar Wideman, Wideman John Edgar
• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.05.2018
• EAN: 9781786893727
• ISBN: 978-1-78689-372-7
• No. of pages: 208
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 12 mm
• Series: The Canons; Canons
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies; Social sciences, law, business > Law > Criminal law, criminal procedural law, criminology; USA, Ethnic Studies, Biography: general, 20th Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Crime and criminology, Crime & criminology, Black & Asian Studies, Relating to African American / Black American people, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs