Black & White

"Black & White, as the title suggests, is painted on a broad canvas of stark contrasts and big themes, but the book doesn't suffer under the weight of its ambition....The novel's mere existence is proof that Shiner means it--and that readers ignore him at their peril." --Los Angeles Times When Michael follows his dying father to North Carolina, a lifetime of lies begins to unravel. His pursuit of his father's past--haunted by voodoo, adultery and murder--takes him to a place called Hayti, once the most prosperous black community in the South. Now the mysteries of Michael's own heritage become a matter of life and death, as racial conflicts barely restrained since the 1960s erupt again. Rooted in the true story of the US government's urban renewal policy and its disastrous aftermath, Black & White is a literary thriller, a family saga, and a searing portrait of institutionalized hatred. "A stunning tapestry that captures the hopes, dreams, greed, bigotry, ambitions and betrayals that shaped [the characters'] destinies and those of our country." --Publishers Weekly