The Man Who Cried I Am

The Man Who Cried I AmMax Reddick, a novelist, journalist, and presidentialspeechwriter, has spent his career struggling againstthe riptide of race in America. Now terminally ill, hehas nothing left to lose. An expat for many years, Maxreturns to Europe one last time to settle an old debtwith his estranged Dutch wife, Margrit, and to attendthe Paris funeral of his friend, rival, and mentor HarryAmes. Among Harry's papers, Max uncovers explosivesecret government documents

Max Reddick, a novelist, journalist, and presidential�speechwriter, has spent his career struggling against�the riptide of race in America. Now terminally ill, he�has nothing left to lose. An expat for many years, Max�returns to Europe one last time to settle an old debt�with his estranged Dutch wife, Margrit, and to attend�the Paris funeral of his friend, rival, and mentor Harry�Ames. Among Harry's papers, Max uncovers explosive�secret government documents outlining `King Alfred', a�plan to be implemented in the event of widespread racial�unrest and aiming `to terminate, once and for all, the�Minority threat to the whole of the American society'.�Realizing that Harry has been assassinated, Max must�risk everything to get the documents to the one man who�can help. Greeted as a masterpiece when it was published�in 1967,�The Man Who Cried I Am�stakes out a range of�experience rarely seen in American fiction: from the�life of a Black GI to the ferment of postcolonial Africa�to an insider's view of Washington politics in the era of�segregation and the Civil Rights Movement. John A.�Williams and his lost classic are overdue for rediscovery.