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Charles Johnson


(Charles Richard Johnson)
USA flag (b.1948)

Charles R. Johnson is an American scholar and author of novels, short stories, and essays. Johnson, an African-American, has directly addressed the issues of black life in America in novels such as Middle Passage and Dreamer.

Johnson first came to prominence in the 1960s as a political cartoonist, at which time he was also involved in radical politics. In 1970, he published a collection of cartoons, and this led to a television series about cartooning on PBS.
 
 
Novels
   Faith and the Good Thing (1974)
   Oxherding Tale (1982)
   Middle Passage (1990)
   Dreamer (1998)
   Another River to Cross (2002)
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Collections
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Anthologies edited
   I Was Born a Slave (1999) (with Yuval Taylor)
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Non fiction
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Charles Johnson recommends
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The Final Case (2022)
David Guterson
"I read The Final Case in a single sitting, spellbound by David Guterson's exploration of a tragic death caused by the kind of religious fanaticism that has long plagued our human species. Yet he balances this horrifying perversion of spirituality with the portrait of a lawyer, nearing death, who in the true meaning of heroism, knows that his daily devotion to the rule of law, reason, and civilized values is all that we have - as problematic as these principles can be - to hold back the irrational, ever-present darkness in the human soul. Long after you have finished reading this life-affirming novel, the timeless issues it raises will linger in your mind."
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Music of the Ghosts (2017)
Vaddey Ratner
"Few atrocities compare with the almost unimaginable devastation brought to Cambodia by Pol Pot. But Vaddey Ratner, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, has not only created here an unforgettable vision of revolution and genocide, but also a moving portrayal of lives interwoven by loss, Buddhist wisdom and, most important of all, redemption. Music of the Ghosts is a powerful performance."
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The Coming (2015)
Daniel Black
"Powerful and beautiful...this is a work to be proud of."

Anthologies containing stories by Charles Johnson
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Growing Up Chicago (2022)
edited by
Lauren DeJulio Bell, Roxanne Pilat and David Schaafsma
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The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019 (2019)
(Best American Nonrequired Reading)
edited by
Edan Lepucki

More anthologies 


Awards
PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction Best Book nominee (1987) : The Sorcerer's Apprentice
National Book Award for Fiction Best Book winner (1990) : Middle Passage


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