PAPERBACK ISBN: 0-88258-116-3   $24.95

240 pages; 5.5 x 8.5 inches

by Barry Beckham

Runner Mack, by Barry Beckham, is the compelling novel relating the story of young Henry Adams’s journey to self-discovery, as facilitated by his encounters and friendship with Runner Mack, a self-styled, fast-talking black militant.  Rich with metaphor and symbolism, the novel uses the game of baseball as a symbol for America—for whites, it is a sanctuary in which the American Dream is a reality; for blacks, it is a nightmarish world filled with pain, chaos, and frustration.  Adams’s desire to make the Stars baseball team, for which he is well qualified, is likewise symbolic of the larger African American struggle to enter and then participate with dignity in mainstream U.S. society.  It is not until Adams is drafted into the army and meets Runner Mack that he becomes more aware, and thus more critical, of his “place” in that society.  His individual transformation becomes a metaphor for the impact of racial consciousness on millions of other blacks.

Mel Watkins, an editor of the New York Times Book Review, writes a penetrating introduction that places Runner Mack in the context of the times in which it was written. This edition of Runner Mack also contains and appendix of reviews the book received when first published in 1972.

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