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by E. W. Irving (Author)
If you have hope for race relations improving in America, you might not want to read this book. Hope is the desire for an outcome that defies experience. If you want a rousing read, a ghetto-life primer, a morning-after look in the mirror for those who think they're woke, then read on. E. W. Irving has lived the life he delineates. He is a truth-teller even when the truth hurts and rains fiery scorn upon the teller.
Irving takes you inside the ghetto and reveals its self-defeating tilt of everyday life. The white calvary isn't riding in to save the day. The black denizens of The Gut Bucket are on their own, isolated, self-indulgent, and incapable of moral action whether out of fear or willful blindness. If you are still reading, take a look at The Triumph of Death, a 16th century work of art by Pieter Bruegel the Elder that is referenced in the book. In Bruegel's vision, nothing survives the army of death, not religion, not commerce, not even love. It depicts life in the ghetto. It depicts life in a society that condones the ghetto. Read this novel if you dare. It won't be an easy trip but it will reward you with insight. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. Many Blacks boast about "keeping it real" when they depict Black life. Irving does more than boast. He keeps it "real" for real.
Number of Pages: 294
Dimensions: 0.62 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN
Publication Date: December 12, 2025
