Why read Crook Manifesto?

Book cover of Crook Manifesto

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Crook Manifesto as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Scott Brooks

Author

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…

From Scott's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Paul V. Allen

Author

I love Colson Whitehead because for all his literary acclaim – including a National Book Award and two Pulitzer Prizes – he’s a geek at heart. His work is often in conversation with the conventions of genres such as horror and sci-fi.

Crook Manifesto is the second book in a planned trilogy of crime novels about a man who’s not fully crooked, but is definitely bent. It’s both a complex character study and an evocative recreation of 1970s New York in all its crumbling glory.

From Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2023.