Dead Weight

By Randall Horton,

Book cover of Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays

Book description

Dead Weight chronicles the improbable turnaround of a drug smuggler who, after being sentenced to eight years in state prison, returned to society to earn a PhD in creative writing and become the only tenured professor in the United States with seven felony convictions. Horton's visceral essays highlight the difficulties…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Dead Weight as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book epitomizes what it means to be Black and male in American society and how one’s poor choices or the choices that chose one can be overcome. Horton, a native of the segregated South and the by-product of educators, headed north to college and became swept away by the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. A major drug smuggler, he spent seven years in prison for his crime. But it was during that time, that poetry discovered him and upon his release he earned a B.A., Master, and PhD degrees. In fact, he describes himself as the only tenured…

Want books like Dead Weight?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Dead Weight.

Browse books like Dead Weight

Book cover of The Vain Conversation
Book cover of Tougaloo Blues
Book cover of Table Scraps and Other Essays

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,355

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in drug trafficking, poets, and cocaine?

Drug Trafficking 15 books
Poets 75 books
Cocaine 23 books