James McBride writes memoir and historical fiction about race, family, music and communities shaped by American history. The Color of Water combines McBride's own coming-of-age with the life of his white Jewish mother, Ruth, who raised twelve Black children after leaving her Southern family behind. The Good Lord Bird follows a fictional enslaved boy who becomes caught up with abolitionist John Brown, using comic voice inside violent historical events. Deacon King Kong centres on a Brooklyn housing project in 1969 after an elderly church deacon shoots a local drug dealer. McBride's prose is energetic, character-led and often funny, fitting African American literature, historical fiction and family memoir. The Color of Water is the strongest entry point for McBride's autobiographical work, while The Good Lord Bird and Deacon King Kong show how his fiction can use comic voices and crowded communities without treating racism or violence lightly. Read more Less
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