At once grotesquely comic and unflinchingly violent: the final entry in the trailblazing Harlem Detectives series, set in New York in the sweltering summer heat. “A sensual, surreal, cartoonishly violent and breathtakingly bawdy comic universe.” —Los Angeles Times New York is sweltering in the summer heat, and Harlem is close to the boiling point. To Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, at times it seems as if the whole world has gone mad. Trying, as always, to keep some kind of peace—their legendary nickel-plated Colts very much in evidence—Coffin Ed and Grave Digger find themselves pursuing two completely different cases through a maze of knifings, beatings, and riots that threaten to tear Harlem apart.
New York is sweltering in the summer heat, and Harlem is dose to the boiling point. To Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, at times it seems as if the whole world has gone mad. Trying, as always, to keep some kind of peace-their legendary nickel-plated Colts very much in evidence-Coffin Ed and Grave Digger find themselves pursuing two completely different cases through a maze of knifings, beatings, and riots that threaten to tear Harlem apart. " The word is out on the street, and the hopheads and whores and flimflam artists are running scared: Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones are back in print." -- Newsweek
New York is sweltering in the summer heat, and Harlem is close to the boiling point. To Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, at times it seems as if the whole world has gone mad. Trying, as always, to keep some kind of peace, their legendary nickel-plated Colts very much in evidence, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger find themselves pursuing two completely different cases through a maze of knifings, beatings, and riots that threaten to tear Harlem apart.
Among the many writers who lent their talents to the creation of hard-boiled detective fiction, few have approached it from a more original perspective than Chester Himes. A former criminal himself, Himes brought to the writing of detective fiction the perspective of the black man. Himes made his debut with the brilliant For Love of Imabelle, for which he was awarded the coveted Grand Prix de la Littérature Policière. Two Guns from Harlem probes Himes's early life and career for the roots of this series and for its heroes, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Skinner discusses how Himes's experience as a black man, combined with his unique outlook on sociology, politics, violence, sex, and race relations, resulted not only in an unusual portrait of black America but also opened the way for the creation of the ethnic and female hard-boiled detectives who followed.
This collection of essays probes the values in a variety of authors who have had in common the fact of popularity and erstwhile reputation. Why were they esteemed? Who esteemed them? And what has become of their reputations, to readers, to the critic himself? No writer here has been asked to justify the work of his subject, and reports and conclusions about this wide variety of creative writers vary, sometimes emphasizing what the critic believes to be enduring qualities in the subject, in several cases finding limitations in what that writer has to offer us today.
Although he never lived in Harlem, Chester Himes commented that he experienced “a sort of pure homesickness” while creating the Harlem-set detective novels from his self-imposed exile in Paris. Through writing, Himes constructed an imaginary home informed both by nostalgia for a community he never knew and a critique of the racism he left behind in the United States. Half a century later, Michelle Cliff wrote about her native Jamaica from the United States, articulating a positive Caribbean feminism that at the same time acknowledged Jamaica’s homophobia and color prejudice. In At Home in Diaspora, Wendy Walters investigates the work of Himes, Cliff, and three other twentieth-century black international writers—Caryl Phillips, Simon Njami, and Richard Wright—who have lived in and written from countries they do not call home. Unlike other authors in exile, those of the African diaspora are doubly displaced, first by the discrimination they faced at home and again by their life abroad. Throughout, Walters suggests that in the absence of a recoverable land of origin, the idea of diaspora comes to represent a home that is not singular or exclusionary. In this way, writing in exile is much more than a literary performance; it is a profound political act. Wendy W. Walters is assistant professor of literature at Emerson College.
Guide Dogs and Guns: Americas First Blind Marksman Fires Back You watched me rack my AK-47 in Bowling for Columbine. You saw me square off with The Early Show's Bryant Gumble. You looked on as I entered the ring to spar with MSNBC's Tucker Carlson. You read about me in The National Enquirer, the Washington Post and the New York Times, but through it all the complete story was never told. Until now. Finally, it's my turn and the gloves are off. Ever since I passed the written and shooting exams in my home state of North Dakota to get my concealed weapons permit in 2001, I have been a figure in the national gun debate.Although it might be true that I could be the greatest threat to the Second Amendment as others have suggested, I stand alone and I do not bow to pressure from either side of the issue. My shooting ability is well-documented and is undeniable, so prepare to step into a world filled with Braille, machineguns, nuclear weapons, sailing ships, killer whales and tornadoes. This isn't a soft, blind man conquers all type of fluff biography, but it is a hard hitting, bare knuckles, although at times humorous, look into the life of America's first sightless gun slinger, Carey McWilliams.
This is a guide regarding the proper application of firearms, especially by those with any degree of visual impairment, with an emphasis on safe firearms usage when engaging in activities such as hunting, target shooting, and even selfaEUR"defense at home or on the street. In these pages, the author, Mr. McWilliams, utilizes his thirty years of certified gun training to teach others with visual impairments, as well as those seeking to train them, all the various methods that have allowed him to pass countless shooting exams to obtain a number of stateaEUR"issued concealed carry permits and hunting licenses. For this guide's creation, real guns from the author's personal firearms collection were used as props for certain technical sections, as well as old written text and recorded lectures obtained during his training through the National Rifle Association, law enforcement, and even the United States Army. Topics include how to identify, load, unload, and work with different types of firearms without the benefit of sight, how the military's techniques in closeaEUR"quarters combat governs defensive shooting by the blind, case studies and official government research debunking the myth that blind people pose a greater danger than the sighted regarding firearm usage, and how to find resources to obtain training certification. This book, however, is only intended as a prelude to official gun training by a licensed instructor, not as a standaEUR"alone manual for perspective blind gun users. It is the author's wish that such information included here bridges the gap between blind Americans and their constitutional right to bear arms.
