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The Spook Who Sat by the Door

Sam Greenlee

African American Studies, Bestsellers, Fiction, Race and Ethnicity

African American Life Series

Paperback
Published: May 1989
ISBN: 9780814322468
Pages: 256 Size: 5.5x8.5
$21.99
Review

An important, original, nitty-gritty book.

— Dick Gergory

A classic in the black literary tradition, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is both a comment on the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of black militancy.

Dan Freeman, the "spook who sat by the door," is enlisted in the CIA's elitist espionage program. Upon mastering agency tactics, however, he drops out to train young Chicago blacks as "Freedom Fighters" in this explosive, award-winning novel.

As a story of one man's reaction to ruling-class hypocrisy, the book is autobiographical and personal. As a tale of a man's reaction to oppression, it is universal.

Published by: Wayne State University Press

Sam Greenlee (1930-2014) was a highly acclaimed, internationally known poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and teacher. A former U.S. Information Agency Foreign Service officer, he is the author of Baghdad Blues and three collections of poetry.

An important, original, nitty-gritty book.

– Dick Gergory, is an American comedian

Blends James Bond parody with wit and rage.

– Time

Deadly

– Newsweek

The place names and people took me back home, but the scenes of police violence against protesters brings this book from a relic of the past into the very real present.

– Jeff Waxman, Literary Hub