Why did Scott love this book?
Crook Manifesto is a follow-up to Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle. This time, set in the 70s, we return to the world of Ray Carney, now running a more successful and larger furniture store right on 125th St, in Harlem. And again, Carney is a cipher for Whitehead to explore the sights, sounds, and humanity of one of America’s most fascinating, volatile neighborhoods.
Whitehead is at the top of his game here as he captures the styles and rhythms of the city in all its glorious, bell-bottom 70s groove. Carney’s block of Harlem is a powder keg of crime and racial tension, with the Black Panthers marching in the streets, corrupt cops demanding pay for protection, and, of course, more petty crimes and con artists.
The book is peppered with rich, funny, painful moments and broken lives. He makes it look so damn easy as his language be-bops along and somehow…
2 authors picked Crook Manifesto as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.
“Dazzling” –Walter Mosley, The New York Times Book Review.
It’s 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his…