Non-Fiction Books

A passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people Praise for Workin’ on the Chain Gang: “. . . bracing and provocative. . . .” — Publishers Weekly “. . . clear-sighted . . . Mosley offers chain-breaking ideas. . . .” — Los Angeles Times Book Review “[A] thoroughly potent dismantling of Yanqui capitalism, the media, and the entertainment business, and at the same time a celebration of rebellion, truth as a tool for emancipation, and much else besides. . . .” — Toronto Globe and Mail “ Workin’ on the Chain Gang excels at expressing feelings of ennui that transcend race. . . . beautiful language and penetrating insights into the necessity of confronting the past.” — Washington Post “Mosley eloquently examines what liberation from consumer capitalism might look like. . . . readers receptive to a progressive critique of the religion of the market will value Mosley’s creative contribution.” — Booklist Walter Mosley’s most recent essay collection is Life Out of Context, published in 2006. He is the best-selling author of the science fiction novel Blue Light, five critically acclaimed mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins, the blues novel RL’s Dream, a finalist for the NAACP Award in Fiction, and winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in New York. Clyde Taylor is Professor of Africana Studies at NYU’s Gallatin School and author of The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract—Film and Literature .

Mosley, like many New Yorkers, has tried to make sense of the events of 9/11--and his own reaction to them. He remembered his father's stories about World War II and how he didn't think of himself as an American until German soldiers shot at him. How did he feel--and how did African Americans feel--about the unfolding debate of what brought America to this tragic juncture. Was the displacement his father felt, a half century ago, still a part of this new generations' experience? In What Next, Mosley addresses these questions and others, inviting the reader into a dialogue that is brilliantly argued, and poetically concise. What Next offers food for thought and is a call to action for African Americans and freedom loving people everywhere.

Life Out of Context begins as a powerful, brooding and humorously honest examination of Mosley's own sense of cultural dislocation as an African American writer. But due to a series of serendipitous events — the screening of a documentary about Africa, an encounter with Harry Belafonte and Hugh Masakela — Mosley, rather like the protagonist in one of his mystery novels, has a series of epiphanies on the role of a black intellectual in America. He asks: What can we do to fight injustice, poverty, exploitation, and racism? What is globalization doing to us? Through these late night meditations, Mosley attempts to transcend his earlier feelings of living a "life out of context" and seeks instead to find a political context. He ends with a call to arms, proposing that African Americans have to break their historic ties with the Democrat Party, and form a party of their own

"A straightforward, friendly guide for aspiring writers" ( Los Angeles Times ): No more excuses. With award-winning author Walter Mosley as your guide, you can write a novel now . "Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. In this invaluable book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish their novel in one year. Intended as both inspiration and instruction, this book provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer. Mosley teaches you how to: Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer's needs -- and how to stick to it. Determine the narrative voice that's right for every writer's style. Hook readers with dynamic characters. Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story. And much more. "No-nonsense advice that is sure to set beginning writers along the righteous path to real authorhood." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

In his late teens and early twenties, Walter Mosley was addicted to alcohol and cigarettes. Drawing from this intimate knowledge of addiction and recovery, Mosley explores the deviances of contemporary America and describes a society in thrall to its own consumption. Although Americans live in the richest country on earth, many citizens exist on the brink of poverty, and from that profound economic inequality stems self-destructive behavior. In Twelve Steps to Political Revelation , Mosley outlines a guide to recovery from oppression. First we must identify the problems that surround us. Next we must actively work together to create a just, more holistic society. And finally, power must be returned to the embrace of the people. Challenging and original, Recovery confronts both self-understanding and how we define ourselves in relation to others.

Walter Mosley is one of America's bestselling novelists, known for his critically acclaimed series of mysteries featuring private investigator Easy Rawlins. His writing is hard-hitting, often limned with a political subtext—aimed at a broad audience. When Mosley was working on a doctorate in political theory, he envisioned himself writing very different kinds of books from the ones he writes now. But once you've been tagged as a novelist, and in Mosley's case, a genre writer, even a bestselling one, it is hard to get an airing of ideas that cross those boundaries. Folding the Red into the Black has grown out of Mosley's public talks, which have gotten both enthusiastic and agitated responses. Mosley's is an elastic mind, and in this short monograph he frees himself to explore some novel ideas. He draws on personal experiences and insights as an African-American, a Jew, and one of our great writers to present an alternative manifesto of sorts: "We need to throw off the unbearable weight of bureaucratic Capitalist and Socialist demands; demands that exist to perpetuate these systems, not to praise and raise humanity to its full promise. And so I propose the word, the term Untopia."

Following his essential writing guide, This Year You Write Your Novel , award-winning author Walter Mosley delivers an eloquent treatise on the craft of fiction writing—part writing guide, part study of the mechanics of the genre. In his essential writing guide, This Year You Write Your Novel , Walter Mosley supplied aspiring writers with the basic tools to write a novel in one year. In this complementary follow up, Mosley guides the writer through the elements of not just any fiction writing, but the kind of writing that transcends convention and truly stands out. How does one approach the genius of writers like Melville, Dickens, or Twain? In The Elements of Fiction , Walter Mosley contemplates the answer. In a series of instructive and conversational chapters, Mosley demonstrates how to master fiction's most essential elements: character and char-acter development, plot and story, voice and narrative, context and description, and more. The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from the blank page to the first draft to rewriting, and rewriting again. Throughout, The Elements of Fiction is enriched by brilliant demonstrative examples that Mosley himself has written here for the first time. Inspiring, accessible, and told in a voice both trustworthy and wise, The Elements of Fiction writing will intrigue and encourage writers and readers alike.