Book cover for Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History by Walter Mosley

Workin' on the Chain Gang

Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History

2006 Released
128 Pages
2-3 Hours
Ebook Unavailable
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
University of Michigan PressISBN 9780472031986

A passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people

Praise for Workin' on the Chain Gang:

". . . bracing and provocative. . . ."

--Publishers Weekly

". . . clear-sighted . . . Mosley offers chain-breaking ideas. . . ."

--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[A] thoroughly potent dismantling of Yanqui capitalism, the media, and the entertainment business, and at the same time a celebration of rebellion, truth as a tool for emancipation, and much else besides. . . ."

--Toronto Globe and Mail

"Workin' on the Chain Gang excels at expressing feelings of ennui that transcend race. . . . beautiful language and penetrating insights into the necessity of confronting the past."

--Washington Post

"Mosley eloquently examines what liberation from consumer capitalism might look like. . . . readers receptive to a progressive critique of the religion of the market will value Mosley's creative contribution."

--Booklist

Walter Mosley's most recent essay collection is Life Out of Context, published in 2006. He is the best-selling author of the science fiction novel Blue Light, five critically acclaimed mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins, the blues novel RL's Dream, a finalist for the NAACP Award in Fiction, and winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association's Literary Award. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in New York.

Clyde Taylor is Professor of Africana Studies at NYU's Gallatin School and author of The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract--Film and Literature.

Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated writers. He was given the 2020 National Book Award’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and honored with the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Robert Kirsch Award, numerous Edgars and several NAACP Image Awards. He is the author of more than sixty critically acclaimed books that cover a wide range of ideas, genres, and forms including fiction (literary, mystery, and science fiction), political monographs, writing guides including Elements of Fiction, a memoir in paintings, and the young adult novel 47. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages. He has published fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Nation. As an executive producer, he adapted his novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, for AppleTV+ and serves as a writer and executive producer for FX’s Snowfall.


In 2020 he was a recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and from the National Book Foundation. In 2013, he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, and he is the winner of numerous awards, including an Edgar Award, an O. Henry Award, the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award, PEN America's Lifetime Achievement Award, a Grammy Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages.

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