Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and
hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory. It’s 1971.
Trash piles up on the streets crime is at an all-time high the city is careening towards
bankruptcy and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army.
Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to
keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are
over. It’s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him — until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his
daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson fixer extraordinaire. But
Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more
complicated – and deadly. 1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation the old ways
are being overthrown but there is one constant Pepper Carney’s endearingly violent partner
in crime. It’s getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings heists and
assorted felonies so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in
Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars up-and-coming comedians and
celebrity drug dealers in addition to the usual cast of hustlers mobsters and hit men. These
adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook – to their regret. 1976. Harlem is burning
block by block while the whole county is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is
trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. ("Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with
It!") while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend the former assistant
D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney’s
tenants he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle
their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady the violent and the utterly
corrupted. CROOK MANIFESTO is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege but also a sneakily
searching portrait of the meaning of family. Colson Whitehead’s kaleidoscopic portrait of
Harlem is sure to stand as one of the all-time great evocations of a place and a time.