Why read The Great Mann?

Book cover of The Great Mann

Book description

In this poignant retelling of The Great Gatsby, set amongst L.A.'s Black elite, a young veteran finds his way post-war, pulled into a new world of tantalizing possibilities—and explosive tensions.

AN ESQUIRE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER

In 1945, Charlie Trammell steps off a cross-country train into the vibrant tapestry of…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Great Mann as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Delia C. Pitts

Author

This re-imagining of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby offered sparkling prose and a challenging look at the world of prosperous Black Los Angeles in the 1940s.

From Delia's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

G. J. Berger

Author

In October 1945, Charlie Trammell comes back to the US after harrowing years as a medic in WWII. Charlie, a 25-year-old Black man who from boyhood read classic authors and worked to enhance his vocabulary, narrates this novel. His beautiful story telling comes out of a hard family background in brutally racist Virginia and his own keen observations and deep thinking.
Charlie’s cousin, Margie, has invited him to her Sugar Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles. Prominent Black entertainers, doctors, land owners live in Sugar Hill mansions. Relatively new to the neighborhood, James Mann owns one of the grandest estates and…

From G.'s 3 favorite reads in 2025.