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Bill Fletcher Jr.’s novel The Man Who Fell From the Sky - Book Talks

“...one of the characters in my book is grappling with the issue of revenge and the question of how far he should go is what I wanted to leave the readers thinking about.” ~Bill Fletcher Jr.


Overview

​In 1970, a sniper’s bullet shocks the sleepy Cape Cod village of Osterville. David Gomes, a young reporter for the Cape & Islands Gazette covers the story, thinking his reporting might lead to a job with a major metropolitan newspaper. With protests against the Viet Nam war and the rise of the Black Panthers roiling the public, the murder investigation becomes deeply personal when Gomes, a Cape Verdean American, encounters the smoldering racial antagonism between the descendants of Cape Verde and African-Americans, as well as the deep-seated hatred toward all people of color among some members of the white community.



Reviews

Bill Fletcher pulls together history and mystery to create an exciting and compelling story of race and revenge. It is truly an unexpected page turner.” ~Danny Glover


"Set amidst the rich cultural mix of Cape Verdean and Portuguese fishermen who came to the country as free men and consequentially fought being seen as the descendants of slaves, Fletcher lets a son of those men tell the story, a journalist. Bent on relieving the suffering of one family, he ends up finding the truth is more complicated, the villain a victim too of a bigger cruelty and devastation that stretched through the generations.” ~Walter Mosley


About Bill Fletcher Jr.

Bill Fletcher Jr has been an activist since his teen years. Upon graduating from college he went to work as a welder in a shipyard, thereby entering the labor movement. Over the years he has been active in workplace and community struggles as well as electoral campaigns. He has worked for several labor unions in addition to serving as a senior staff person in the national AFL-CIO.


Fletcher is the former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; and in the leadership of several other projects. Fletcher is the co-author (with Peter Agard) of “The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941”; the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of “Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice“; and the author of “‘They’re Bankrupting Us’ – And Twenty other myths about unions.” Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and a regular media commentator on television, radio and the Web.


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About Empathy Media Lab

The Harmony of Interest Book Talk series interviews authors about their work while exploring ideas that positively shape our world.


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