A fearless work of historical fiction that digs deep into the life of one of history's best-known figures of the Civil Rights Movement

Charles Johnson is a novelist, screenwriter, essayist, professional cartoonist and was the Pollock Professor of English at the University of Washington until his retirement. In 1998 he received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and in 2003 literary scholars founded the Charles Johnson Society at the American Literature Association. He is the author of more than sixteen books, including the PEN/Faulkner-nominated story collection The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the novel Middle Passage, for which he won the National Book Award.