KINGSBLOOD ROYAL

This is a first edition of Kingsblood Royal, by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951). Lewis was the first American author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the first to decline a Pulitzer Prize (for Arrowsmith—he declined because he did not agree with contests where one book or author was praised over another). His works are known for their critical views of American capitalism and materialism, and for his strong characterizations of modern working women.

Neil Kingsblood is a white middle-class man who discovers that he is directly descended from an African. He tells his friends about his ancestry, the news spreads and people behave differently toward him. He loses his banking job and is run out of his whites-only community. He is forced tochoose between continuing what he has come to see as a hollow existence in the white community and taking on the oppressed minority status of the black community. This novel is known as being 'wickedly funny'.

It is beige/gray boards with green lettering on the cover and a green and gold design on the spine. There's a thumb mark on page 49 and some scuff marks on the cover. The dust jacket is heavily worn. Otherwise perfect.

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