{"product_id":"the-known-world-9780060557553","title":"The Known World","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom National Book Award-nominated author Edward P. Jones comes a debut novel of stunning emotional depth and unequaled literary power. Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize Award and recognized as the fourth best book of the 21st century by the New York Times, The Known World continues to show its importance to the American literary canon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation--as well his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love under the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend household, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave \"speculators\" sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn ambitious, courageous, luminously written masterwork, The Known World seamlessly weaves the lives of the freed and the enslaved--and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery. The Known World not only marks the return of an extraordinarily gifted writer, it heralds the publication of a remarkable contribution to the canon of American classic literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJones, Edward P.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eEdward P. Jones, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for \u003cem\u003eThe Known World;\u003c\/em\u003e he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, \u003cem\u003eLost in the City, \u003c\/em\u003e won the PEN\/Hemingway Award and was short listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, \u003cem\u003eAll Aunt Hagar's Children, \u003c\/em\u003ewas a finalist for the Pen\/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amistad Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50584404656402,"sku":"9780060557553","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f7904567-cd93-4994-b541-ca2018f6ed7e.jpg?v=1732034772","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-known-world-9780060557553","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}