American Histories

In this singular collection, John Edgar Wideman, the acclaimed author of Writing to Save a Life, blends the personal, historical, and political to invent complex, charged stories about love, death, struggle, and what we owe each other. With characters ranging from everyday Americans to Jean-Michel Basquiat to Nat Turner, American Histories is a journey through time, experience, and the soul of our country.

"JB & FD" reimagines conversations between John Brown, the antislavery crusader who famously raided Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist and orator, conversations that belie the myth of race and produce a fantastical, ethically rich correspondence that spans years and ideologies.

"Maps and Ledgers" eavesdrops on a brother and sister today as they ponder their father's killing of another man.

"Williamsburg Bridge" sits inside a man sitting on a bridge who contemplates his life before he decides to jump.

"My Dead" is a story about how the already-departed demand more time, more space in the lives of those who survive them.