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by: William Styron  List Price: $14.95 Amazon.com's Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780679736639 ISBN: 0679736638 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 480 Publication Date: November 10, 1992 Publisher: Vintage Release Date: November 10, 1992 Studio: Vintage Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: In the late summer of 1831, in a remote section of southeastern Virginia, there took place the only effective, sustained revolt in the annals of American Negro slavery... The revolt was led by a remarkable Negro preacher named Nat Turner, an educated slave who felt himself divinely ordained to annihilate all the white people in the region. The Confessions of Nat Turner is narrated by Nat himself as he lingers in jail through the cold autumnal days before his execution. The compelling story ranges over the whole of Nat's Life, reaching its inevitable and shattering climax that bloody day in August. The Confessions of Nat Turner is not only a masterpiece of storytelling; is also reveals in unforgettable human terms the agonizing essence of Negro slavery. Through the mind of a slave, Willie Styron has re-created a catastrophic event, and dramatized the intermingled miseries, frustrations--and hopes--which caused this extraordinary black man to rise up out of the early mists of our history and strike down those who held his people in bondage. From the Hardcover edition. Average Rating:
 Rating: - Make Sure You Read the Vintage Edition with the AfterwordI initially purchased this book to read for two reasons: First, it was written by William Styron, who wrote the great "Sophie's Choice;" and second, it won a Pulitzer Prize. It was only after I was into the book that I learned that this vintage sixties' book was the subject of a major controversy over the depiction of the title character, Nat Turner. I learned that Styron openly acknowledged fictionalizing large portions of Turner's life, including his motivations for leading the ... Read More Rating:  - A Haunting Masterpiece Of Historical Fiction Upon it's publication, William Styron's "The Confessions of Nat Turner" was hailed by The New York Times as "a triumph", and described as "the most profound fictional treatment of slavery in our literature" by The New Republic. Despite these and other glowing reviews, the book was also denounced as racist garbage which perpetuates dangerous stereotypes about African-Americans - particularly the stereotype of the sexual aggressive black male. I will talk more about this in a moment, ... Read More Rating: - Superb. Left me breathlessI too, am going to have to say that many recent reviewers have said what I would say if I could express myself so eloquently. This is a powerful and beautifully written book. I had heard about it and was curious, but had no idea the impact it would have on me. As a white person I've often wondered why this degree of rage hasn't been touched on before; I've always thought I would have been consumed with it had I been treated as the blacks have been. Styron's novel will haunt you long after you finsh ... Read More Rating: - ExcellentWith avid and unsettling detail, William Styron gives us a story that is a rich and heartbreaking look at American slavery. His Nat Turner gropes blindly for mercy and for God until finally he must try to break free from bonds that are utterly, inexcusably cruel. Rating:  - Could have used a little editing I didn't give this three stars because of the controversy around racism. It's historical fiction, fiction being the key word. And I didn't really pick up that tone from it at all. I thought it was an innovative retelling using what information we do know and filling in the blanks from there. The reason I gave it three stars is because it contained all sorts of things that I felt could have been cut from the book and it wouldn't have mattered. I almost gave up on it in the second section. I'm glad I finished ... Read More 
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