This image is the cover for the book Flashbacks

Flashbacks

A brilliant and thought-provoking collection of articles, profiles, and opinions from one of the twentieth century’s most acclaimed African American writers

A journalist, novelist, and educator, John A. Williams was never afraid to rock boats or take aim at society’s most sacred institutions, white and black. Flashbacks is an essential compilation of Williams’s best nonfiction pieces and an enthralling combination of memoir, biography, and social commentary that sheds a fascinating light on the black experience in America and abroad.

With Flashbacks, the author of The Man Who Cried I Am and Captain Blackman reports on a wide array of world events and political realities, from South African apartheid to Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War and the American civil rights movement. He offers insightful appreciations of some of the century’s most celebrated and controversial black public figures, including Marcus Garvey, Jack Johnson, Charlie Parker, Dick Gregory, and Malcolm X. With insight, candor, and brutal honesty, Williams explores the struggle of the African American middle class and the roots of his own black awareness in essays that remain provocative, powerful, courageous, and relevant today.

John A. Williams

John A. Williams (1925–2015) was born near Jackson, Mississippi, and raised in Syracuse, New York. The author of more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed novels The Man Who Cried I Am and Captain Blackman, he has been heralded by the critic James L. de Jongh as “arguably the finest Afro-American novelist of his generation.” A contributor to the Chicago Defender, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among many other publications, Williams edited the periodic anthology Amistad and served as the African correspondent for Newsweek and the European correspondent for Ebony and Jet. A longtime professor of English and journalism, Williams retired from Rutgers University as the Paul Robeson Distinguished Professor of English in 1994. His numerous honors include two American Book Awards, the Syracuse University Centennial Medal for Outstanding Achievement, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award.

Open Road Integrated Media