Russell Banks's writing delves into the lives of ordinary people grappling with adversity and the complexities of the American experience. His narratives often explore profound themes of guilt, redemption, and the search for identity. Banks masterfully captures the raw realities and intricate psychologies of his characters, crafting deeply resonant and often unsettling works.
A comprehensive survey of the work of one of America's best-known photographers. Renowned for his melancholic, dramatic and painterly images of small-town America, Gregory Crewdson has evolved over a nearly thirty-year career into one of the world's most acclaimed photographers.
Wade Whitehouse is an improbable protagonist for a tragedy. A well-digger and policeman in a bleak New Hampshire town, he is a former high-school star gone to beer fat, a loner with a mean streak. It is a mark of Russell Banks' artistry and understanding that Wade comes to loom in one's mind as a blue-collar American Everyman afflicted by the dark secret of the macho tradition. Told by his articulate, equally scarred younger brother, Wade's story becomes as spellbinding and inexorable as a fuse burning its way to the dynamite.
A complex portrait of a 19th-century rural American family. The novel tells the story of one man's passage from slavery abolitionist to guerilla fighter to terrorist and martyr. Narrated by the abolitionist's son, Owen, the book recreates the political and social landscape of pre-Civil War America.
This collection features new stories that explore the intricate dynamics of modern American families, showcasing Russell Banks' keen insight and storytelling prowess. Known for his acclaimed works, Banks delves into the emotional landscapes and challenges faced by families today, offering a poignant and thought-provoking examination of relationships and identity. Each narrative reveals the complexities of familial bonds, making this a compelling read for those interested in contemporary life and human connections.
Originally published by Harper in 1985 to great acclaim, "Continental Drift" is an American masterpiece about innocence and evil by one of the most important novelists writing today.
"At his shattering best. . . Banks offers answers that are tough, honest, and inevitable without being simple. . . . A book that is not to be missed." — New York Times With The Angel on the Roof, acclaimed author Russell Banks offers readers an astonishing collection of thirty years of his short fiction, revised especially for this volume and highlighted by the inclusion of nine new stories that are among the finest he has ever written. As is characteristic of all of Bank's works, these stories resonate with irony and compassion, honesty and insight, extending into the vast territory of the heart and the world, from working-class New England to Florida and the Caribbean and Africa. Broad in scope and rich in imagination, The Angel on the Roof affirms Russell Banks's place as one of the masters of American storytelling.
When we first meet him, Chappie is a punked-out teenager living with his mother and abusive stepfather in an upstate New York trailer park. During this time, he slips into drugs and petty crime. Rejected by his parents, out of school and in trouble with the police, he claims for himself a new identity as a permanent outsider; he gets a crossed-bones tattoo on his arm, and takes the name "Bone." He finds dangerous refuge with a group of biker-thieves, and then hides in the boarded-up summer house of a professor and his wife. He finally settles in an abandoned schoolbus with Rose, a child he rescues from a fast-talking pedophile. There Bone meets I-Man, an exiled Rastafarian, and together they begin a second adventure that takes the reader from Middle America to the ganja-growing mountains of Jamaica. It is an amazing journey of self-discovery through a world of magic, violence, betrayal and redemption.
A small town's response to the inexplicable loss of its children in a school bus accident.
“Banks’s narrative seductively juxtaposes rambles through lush volcanic mountains, white sand beaches and coral reefs with a barrage of memories of the hash he’s made of his private life.” —The New York Times Book Review Now in his mid-seventies, Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. This longing for escape has taken him from the “bright green islands and turquoise seas” of the Caribbean islands to peaks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and beyond. In each of these remarkable essays, Banks considers his life and the world. In Everglades National Park this “perfect place to time-travel,” he traces his own timeline. Recalling his trips to the Caribbean in the title essay, “Voyager,” Banks dissects his relationships with the four women who would become his wives. In the Himalayas, he embarks on a different quest of self-discovery. “One climbs a mountain not to conquer it, but to be lifted like this away from the earth up into the sky,” he explains. Pensive, frank, beautiful, and engaging, Voyager brings together the social, the personal, and the historical, opening a path into the heart and soul of this revered writer.
The Granite State Trailerpark serves as the backdrop for a series of interconnected short stories featuring a vibrant array of characters. Flora fiercely protects her hundred guinea pigs, Claudel faces the aftermath of his wife's betrayal, and Noni shares her divine conversations with Jesus. Russell Banks crafts gripping, realistic narratives that explore the complexities of individual lives, revealing the darker, wittier sides of New England life. Each story offers a unique glimpse into the struggles and eccentricities of its residents.