Richard Wright Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Native Son | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Outsider | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Savage Holiday | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Long Dream | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Lawd Today! | (1963) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Man Who Lived Underground | (2021) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
Uncle Tom's Children | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
12 Million Black Voices | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Eight Men | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Haiku | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Best American Short Stories Books
The Best Short Stories of 1915 | (1916) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1916 | (1916) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1917 | (1917) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1918 | (1918) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1919 | (1919) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1921 | (1921) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1922 | (1922) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1923 | (1923) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1924 | (1924) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1925 | (1925) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1926 | (1926) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1927 | (1927) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1928 | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1929 | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1930 | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1931 | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1932 | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1933 | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1934 | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1935 | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1936 | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1937 | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1938 | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1939 | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1940 | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1941 | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1942 | (1942) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1943 | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1944 | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1945 | (1945) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1946 | (1946) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1948 | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1949 | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1950 | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1951 | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1952 | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1953 | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1955 | (1955) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1957 | (1957) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1958 | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1959 | (1959) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1960 | (1960) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1961 | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1962 | (1962) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1963 | (1963) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1965 | (1965) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1966 | (1966) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1967 | (1967) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1968 | (1967) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of 1969 | (1969) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1970 | (1970) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1971 | (1971) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1972 | (1972) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1973 | (1973) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1974 | (1974) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best of Best American Short Stories 1915-1950 | (1975) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1975 | (1975) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1976 | (1976) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1977 | (1977) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1978 | (1978) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1981 | (1981) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1984 | (1984) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1985 | (1985) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1987 | (1987) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of the Eighties | (1990) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2001 | (2001) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2002 | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1921, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories1921 | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2015 | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Anthology series. |
Publication Order of Anthologies
I Am the Darker Brother | (1968) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Growing Up in the South | (1991) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Go the Way Your Blood Beats | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume 2 | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of the Century | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Unnatural Selection of Darwinian Nightmares | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Civil Rights Reader | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Dark Faith: Invocations | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Nightscapes: Volume 1 | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
10 Common Core Essentials | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Richard Wright was a renowned American writer of novels, poems, nonfiction, and short stories. He has penned a number of notable works in his career, including Native Son, The Outsider, Uncle Tom’s Children, Black Boy, and others. Most of Wright’s literature was based on racial themes and especially revolved around the plight of Afro-Americans towards the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Wright showed in his books how the African-Americans suffered violence and discrimination in the North and the South. Many literary critics believe that Wright’s work helped to change race relations in America during the mid-20th century. Wright is regarded as one of the prominent names in the literature of the United States. He gained prominence with his 1940 novel called Native Son, which became an instant hit and a bestseller as soon as its release by Harper and Brothers. The novel also helped America’s cause as it entered the Second World War.
With Native Son’s release, Wright became the richest writer of the African-American origin in the country. And with the release of his later novels, he went on to influence the work and life of the Civil Rights movement’s thinkers, fiction writers, anti-colonial figures, and other figures from around the world. Author Wright was born as Richard Nathaniel Wright on September 04, 1908, near Natchez and Roxie, Mississippi. He has described in his autobiography titled Black Boy that he was brought up in a very tumultuous environment. Wright is highly associated with New York and Chicago, however, he didn’t arrive in the north until 927. First, he resided in Chicago for 10 years and then in 1937, relocated to New York. Wright then remained in America for another 10 years or so before taking the decision of moving to Europe due to the extreme racism he faced in his country. Following a short trip to France in the year 1946, Wright moved to Paris permanently along with his wife and 2 daughters. After this, he did not return to the US even for once.
Even though Wright decided not to move back to his country that he left shortly after World War II came to an end, he undertook extensive traveling to various places around the world. Wright has documented his visits to numerous places in Asia, Africa, and Europe. And in due course of time, he shifted his writing from fiction to non-fiction political essays. Wright collaborated with a noteworthy Francophone thinker and writer named Aime Cesaire in the late 40s. To attend the Bandung Conference, he visited Bandung in Indonesia. Wright recorded the observations related to the concerns of human rights and later described the conference as an important event. During the late 30s, Wright became a member of the Communist Party right after his relocation to Chicago. But, he took back his membership in 1942 due to some personal reasons. In Native Son, Wright has depicted the relationship between communism and racial justice through Boris Max’s character.
The works of author Wright are included among the most translated fiction works of African American. His readership is spread in countries like Germany, France, Russia, Spain, China, Japan, India, etc. During the time Wright was residing in Paris, Pierre Chenal adapted Native Son for the big screen. The film was made in Argentinian and did not do good business. The highlight of this movie was that forty-year-old Wright played the role of the younger version of Bigger Thomas. There are more than one movie adaptations of Native Son available. Also, there were several other media renditions, including a stage play adapted by Orson Welles and some portions read by James Earl Jones for 1973’s Caedmon spoken-word record. Wright’s first marriage was with a Jewish lady named Dhimah Rose in 1939. It did not last long and ended after one year. Then, Wright married for the second time with Ellen Poplar in 1941. The couple had two daughters named Julia and Rachel.
Author Wright died on November 28, 1960, in Paris due to a heart attack. His daughter Julia had claimed that he was murdered. After his death, his widow Ellen remained the executor of his estate until her death in 2004. Some of Wright’s Papers are currently held at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The anti-colonial and Civil Rights personalities influenced by Wright’s work include James Baldwin, Aime Cesaire, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Frantz Fanon.
A highly popular novel penned by author Richard Wright is entitled ‘Native Son’. It was first released in 1940 and was re-released by Harper Perennial in 2005. This novel tells the tale of a young black man named Bigger Thomas, who faces downfall in his life after he accidentally kills a white lady in a panic moment. Bigger Thomas finds himself on the wrong side of the judicial system because of being a black man. He becomes a victim of racism and hatred from the white-dominated society. Right from the beginning, Bigger Thomas was headed in the direction of the jail. He always had the danger of being charged for petty larceny or assault because of his actions. But, he ends up being held for rape and murder. This novel takes place in Chicago during the 1930s. It captures the relentless reflection on the feeling of hopelessness and poverty experienced by the lower-class people of the society across America. The novel also describes what it meant to belong to the black race in America in that period of history.
Another powerful novel that Wright wrote in his writing career is known as ‘The Outsider’. It was initially released in 1953. In this book, Wright has a complex narrative of how ugly and raw was racism in the United States. Wright has named the central character of this book as Cross Damon. He represents a Negro man of the 20th century in the pursuit of freedom. Cross Damon is an intellectual man, but because of the culture around him, he faces rejection. He is introduced as having an addiction to drinking. His drinking habit is partly due to his effort to not remember his many problems and partly due to numb the pain caused by his frustrated and urgent sense of life. Cross gets involved in an accident and is reported to have succumbed to his injuries. When he learns about the false information about his death, Cross decides to create a new identity for himself and hopes to discover the truth. His search forces him to carry out 4 murders and finally brings his own life to a violent death. Before dying, Cross rejects religion and abandons ideas. When his mistress sees him as the man he has become, she commits suicide. In the end, when the district attorney asks Cross Damon on his death how was his life, he murmurs that it was too horrible and dies.
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