Colson Whitehead

"I keep writing about New York. I think if I figure out New York, I will stop talking about it," says Colson Whitehead of his city. In Harlem Shuffle, he returns to it in a noir, historical or, perhaps, satirical novel because the literary genre is not a limit for Whitehead. It is, instead, the basis on which he builds and expands his literary universe. 

Whitehead again demonstrates his mastery in taking a chapter of African-American history in the United States and bringing to the forefront the class inequalities and racial discrimination that still dominate American society today. He does so by showing us his characters’ journey to overcome the desperation and brutality in which they are forced to live.