Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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One of the most neglected of American writers and also one of the best-loved, Nelson Algren (1909–1981) once wrote that “literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.” More about this author >
A novel of rare genius, The Man with the Golden Arm describes the dissolution of a card-dealing WWII veteran named Frankie Machine, caught in the act of slowly cutting his own heart into wafer-thin slices. For Frankie, a murder committed may be the least of his problems.
A literary tour de force, here is a novel unlike any other, in which drug addiction, poverty and human failure somehow suggest a defense of human dignity and a reason for hope.
