Book Rec of the Day 2/23/2007

In 1978 with this book of short stories, McPherson became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Elbow Room is as resonant today as it was then. McPherson brilliantly depicts black America with depth and sensitivity, realism and subtlety, exploring what he calls “minefields of delicious ironies.” If you have never read McPherson, a treat awaits. He is one of the great writers to chronicle America.

ELBOW ROOM, by James Alan McPherson (1977; Fawcett, 1986)

McPherson received a law degree from Harvard and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa.