Listed in Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Most Anticipated of 2026
Playwright August Wilson is best known for his American Century Cycle, a sequence of ten plays—including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Fences and The Piano Lesson—that chronicle the lives of Black Americans in each decade of the twentieth century. But behind the celebrated plays stands a complex man shaped by his hometown's vibrant Black culture. In August Wilson's American Century: Life as Art, Laurence A. Glasco, one of the foremost historians of Black life in Pittsburgh, draws on Wilson's early poetry, archival material, and original interviews with family members, neighbors, and friends to show how the city and its residents shaped the playwright and his work. Wilson's overlapping identities as an outsider, warrior, race man, and poet helped him persevere in the face of setbacks, weave real-life observations with his poetry to craft memorable dialogue and compelling characters, and portray the realities of race in America in ways that have resonated with theatergoers and readers ever since. Glasco uncovers the story of how the people and places of Pittsburgh remained with Wilson after he left his hometown, shining through in a body of work that brought the struggles and triumphs of the Black experience to a wide audience and changed American theater for the better.
- English
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eBook - ePub
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Information
Subtopic
Literary BiographiesTable of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- CONTENTS
- Introduction: The Power of Place
- 1 From Plumtree to Pittsburgh
- 2 Bedford Avenue Outsider
- 3 Hazelwood Warrior
- 4 Centre Avenue Poet
- 5 Early Poetry
- 6 Race Man
- 7 Black Horizons Theatre
- 8 Return to Poetry
- 9 Leaving Pittsburgh
- 10 Discovering Bearden, Finding His Way
- 11 Breakthroughs
- 12 Grappling with Black Nationalism
- 13 Seattle Years
- 14 Completing the Cycle
- 15 Preserving the Legacy
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Events in August Wilson’s Life
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Photo Credits
- Index
- Back Cover
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Yes, you can access August Wilson's American Century by Laurence Glasco,Laurence A. Glasco in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.