Flight

"A groundbreaking novel of the Harlem Renaissance . . . Telling the story of black migration, urbanization, and segregation." —Thadious M. Davis, author of Understanding Alice Walker Published in 1926 and written by civil rights activist and longtime head of the NAACP Walter White, Flight "belongs to an extinct but historically crucial genre of African-American fiction: the passing novel. Here, White, himself light enough to pass, explores the many dimensions of the path not taken. Along the way, he reflects on the American propensity for personal reinvention and the arbitrariness of racial designation" (Nell Irvin Painter, New York Times –bestselling author of The History of White People ). When Mimi Daquin is fourteen, she, her father, and her stepmother leave the charm and romance of New Orleans behind to move to Atlanta. It is in this rustling, bustling city, where, for the first time, the light-skinned Mimi begins to learn where lines are drawn between the different shades of African Americans. Ever observant, Mimi soon realizes that opportunity comes in a direct ratio to the absence of pigmentation, a lesson that will serve her well in the future, when—after the 1906 Atlanta race riot, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and struggles in Philadelphia and Harlem—she decides to pass as white. And though Mimi is amazingly successful in her quest, she may never be able to reconcile the price she has to pay for it. "An excellent novel . . . With this second book Mr. White takes on quite a new stature. There is little doubt but that he will be heard from further." — New York Herald Tribune A 1926 collection of nine stories of “fine insight and finished craft” from the acclaimed author of The Great Gatsby ( The New York Times ). Experience the Roaring Twenties through the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest American writers with these nine short stories. Included are tales of wealthy eccentrics and unrequited love like “Winter Dreams” and “Rags Martin-Jones and the Pr-nce of W-les.” A woman who marries for money must handle the consequences when tragedy strikes in “The Adjuster.” A suburban married couple must deal with the fallout of their toddler’s violent tantrum in “The Baby Party.” And a young boy confesses his sins in “Absolution,” originally written as a prologue to The Great Gatsby , which was published in 1925, one year prior to this collection.