The Man Who Cried I Am

Max Reddick, who is a talented 'black writer' in America but a literary genius in Europe, is trying to come to terms with his dilemma. Max is tired of having to accept that being black will always be the primary definition of his life - despite his marriage to a white woman, despite his literary talent and aspirations, despite his intellectual and social relations, and despite his 'escape' to the European cities of Paris and Amsterdam. At the end of his life, cut short by cancer, Max decides to question all the things that brought him to where he is today. John A. Williams has created in Max Reddick an unforgettable character: irascible, fiercely inteiligent, irredeemable, and honourable. The Man Who Cried I Am is a stunning chronicle of not only Williams's life but the lives of all black people who have refused to be victims: African-Americans who have had to leave their country to claim their individuality, intellectual independence, and rightful recognition, and who have always yearned to be 'home' but struggled to find such a place. With penetrating fictional portraits of Richard Wright and James Baldwin, among other historical figures, John A Williams reveals the hope, courage, and bitter disappointment of the civil-rights era. Infused with powerful artistry, searing anger, as well as insight, humanity, and vision, The Man Who Cried I Am is a classic of post-war American literature.