Native son (HarperCollins)

Gripping and furious, "Native Son" follows Bigger Thomas, a young black man who is trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago. Unwittingly involved in a wealthy woman's death, he is hunted relentlessly, baited żeby prejudiced officials, charged with murder and driven to acknowledge a strange pride in his crime. "Native Son" shocked readers on its first publication in 1940 and went on to make Richard Wright the first bestselling black writer in America.