Unlike any novel you've ever read, this is a richly comic, deeply tragic, and profoundly soul-searching story of one young Negro's baffling experiences on the road to self-discovery. From the bizarre encounter with the white trustee that results in his expulsion from a Southern college, to its powerful culmination in New York's Harlem, his story moves with a relentless drive:—the nightmarish job in a paint factory—the bitter disillusionment with the "Brotherhood" and its policy of betrayal—the violent climax when screaming tensions are released in a terrifying race riot. This brilliant, monumental novel is a triumph of story-telling. It reveals profound insight into every man's struggle to find his true self.