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Rails Under My Back
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Rails Under My Back Trade paper - 2001

by Allen, Jeffery Renard


Summary

A dazzling family saga that brilliantly reflects the reality of the African-American experience in the United States

Hatch and Jesus Jones are cousins on their fathers' side and on their mothers' side, and you can't have a family much more bound than that. And family is the most important entity for these young men, even when family seems to be defined by abandonment. Rails Under My Back traces these two men from one form of bondage or freedom to another, from one job to another, as they face down danger and try to come to terms with their family's past.

This ambitious novel, which has been hailed by critics nationwide as a rare achievement on the level of fiction by Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright, is the communal expression of a century of African-American life in America, with its imagery of exodus and exile, departure and destiny. It wields extraordinary literary, religious, and historical power, and announces the triumphant debut of a most powerful and utterly original voice.

From the publisher

Rails Under My Back reveals its family theme in a depiction of its paradoxical opposite: abandonment. Allen tracks the lives of two brothers, Lucius and John Jones, who are married to two sisters, Gracie and Sheila McShan. The McShans and the Joneses always prevail, and their story has literary, religious, and historical power.

Details

  • Title Rails Under My Back
  • Author Allen, Jeffery Renard
  • Binding Trade Paper
  • Edition First Edition; F
  • Pages 576
  • Language EN
  • Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, San Diago
  • Date 2001-03-19
  • ISBN 9780156014151

About the author

Jeffery Renard Allen was born in Chicago in 1962 and received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He has taught at Queens College since 1992.
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Rails Under My Back
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Rails Under My Back

by Allen, Jeffery Renard

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  • Paperback
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Used - VG-
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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780156014151 / 0156014157
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San Diego: San Diego: Harcourt, 2000, 2000. Paperback. VG-. pp. 563, rubbing, edge slightly curled, light wear extremities. Paperback. VG-.
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)

by Jeffery Renard Allen,Cynthia Cannell

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Harvest Books, March 2001. Paperback. USED Good/No Jacket.
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)

by Jeffery Renard Allen

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Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Mariner Books, 2001-03-19. Paperback. Good.
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Rails Under My Back
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Rails Under My Back

by Jeffery Renard Allen

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  • near fine
  • Paperback
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Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780156014151 / 0156014157
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San Diago: Harcourt Inc., 2000. Book. Near Fine. Trade Paperback.
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)
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Rails Under My Back (Harvest Book)

by Allen, Jeffery Renard; Cannell, Cynthia

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  • very good
  • Paperback
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Used - Very Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780156014151 / 0156014157
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Harvest Books, 2001-03-19. Paperback. Very Good. Prompt shipment, with tracking. we ship in CLEAN SECURE NEW boxes Domestic fiction Very good. Minor creasing. Clean copy.
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RAILS UNDER MY BACK

RAILS UNDER MY BACK

by Allen, Jeffery Renard

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  • Paperback
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Used
Edition
First Edition; First Printing
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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780156014151 / 0156014157
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Description:
New York: Harvest Books. 2001. First Edition; First Printing. Softcover. 0156014157 . Very Good in wrappers. Small crease to bottom corner of half title page. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .
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