"Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking the Dead Hand of History"

(Reviewed by Judi Clark APR 6, 2000)

I saw an interview with Walter Mosley on the Jim Lehrer show about his first nonfiction book. I was so impressed with Mosley's thoughts, that I went out and bought it.

 

This book is one of the Library of Contemporary Thoughts publications of long essays by notable writers. Mosley started out to write on African American experience at the dawn of the new millennium, but quickly turned his thoughts to all America. His premise is that although slavery was outlawed more than a century ago, ALL of us wear chains. Anyone working for others are part of a new kind of chain gang, one in which poverty is only a few paychecks away because we are controlled by an economic system in which "value" means profit. "Some of us are cogs in the economic machine, others are ghosts, but it is the machine, not race or gender or even nationality, that drives us." Mosley doesn't offer a solution, but he does offer a way for everyone to start thinking for themselves. He recommends that we just stop, turn off the TV and think what we really should be doing with our lives then all Americans would be better off. He says too many people confuse democracy with capitalism. The state of America is not a democracy.

Since this essay is written before the 2000 election, Mosley nominates himself as a presidential candidate and describes the platform he would run on. Carl and I always say that when you buy something you are in a sense voting. In this case I'd like to think it's true and that others will vote for Walter Mosley by purchasing Workin' on the Chain Gang, Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History.

• Amazon readers rating: from 13 reviews

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Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com)

• R.L.'s Dream (1995)
• Blue Light (1998)
• Futureland (2001)
• The Man in My Basement (2004)
• 47 (2005)
• The Wave (2006)
• Fortunate Son (2006)
• Killing Johnny Fry: A Sexistential Novel (2006)
• Diablerie (2007)
• The Tempest Tales (2008)
• The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2010)
• Parishioner (2012)

Easy Rawlins Mysteries:

• Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)
• A Red Death (1991)
• White Butterfly (1992)
• Black Betty (1994)
• A Little Yellow Dog (1996)
• Gone Fishin' (1997)
• Bad Boy Brawly Brown (July 2002)
• Six Easy Pieces: Stories (2003)
• Little Scarlet (2004)
• Cinnamon Kiss (2005)
• Blonde Faith (2007)
• Little Green (May 2013)

Socrates Fortlow novels:

• Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (1998)
• Walkin'the Dog (1999)
• The Right Mistake: The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow (2008)

Paris Minton and Fearless Jones Mysteries:

• Fearless Jones (2001)
• Fear Itself (2003)
• Fear of the Dark (2006)

Leonid McGill, P.I. series:

• The Long Hill (2009)
• Known to Evil (2010)
• When the Thrill is Gone (2011)
• All I Did Was Shoot My Man (2012)

Crosstown to Oblivion:

• The Gift of Fire/On the Head of a Pin (2012)
• Merge/Disciple (2012)
• Stepping Stone (April 2013)

Nonfiction:

• Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History (2000)
• What Next: An African American Initiative Toward World Peace (2003)
• This Year You Write Your Novel (2007)

Movies from books:

• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (2002)

 

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Book Marks:

• Official website for Walter Mosley
• Wikipedia page on Walter Mosley
• PBS interview with Walter Mosley and Workin' on the Chain Gang
• NPR review of What Next
• AALBC reivew of What Next
• Chapter Excerpt from This Year You Will Write Your Novel

More reviews of Walter Mosley's books:

• MostlyFiction.com review of Futureland
• MostlyFiction.com review of The Man in My Basement
• MostlyFiction.com review of Easy Rawlins series
• MostlyFiction.com review of Socrates Fortlow series
• MostlyFiction.com review of Paris Minton/Fearless Jones series
• MostlyFiction.com review of When the Thrill is Gone (Leonid McGill series)

 

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About the Author:

Walter Mosley, born in 1952, grew up in Los Angeles and has been at various times in his life a potter, a computer programmer, and a poet.

His books have been translated into twenty languages. Devil in a Blue Dress received the 1990 Shamus Award for "Best First P.I. Novel" from the Private Eye Writers of America and was also made into a movie starring Denzel Washington. His collection of short stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, a 60 year-old philosophical ex-convict, in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was also latered released as a movie.

He has been the president of the Mystery Writers of America and a member of the executive board of the PEN American Center and Founder of its Open Book Committee and on the board of directors of the National Book Awards. In 2002, Walter Mosley won a Grammy for "Best Liner Notes" for a Richard Pryor box set.

Mosley lives in New York City.