Wade, Brent

Chapel Hill. 1992. February 1992. Algonquin Books. 1st Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0945575734. 219 pages. hardcover. Jacket art by John Kleber. keywords: Literature America African American. FROM THE PUBLISHER - His name is William Covington. His wife and his friends call him Billy. His associates at the office call him Bill. The black machinists on the shop floor call him ‘the corporate brother.' He suspects they all talk behind his back. Something terrible is happening to him. Billy Covington is a young black man in a high-profile job. He has the patronage of the CEO, he has a beautiful and intelligent wife, he has a house in a fine old Baltimore neighborhood, and he has a cardinal red Jaguar XJ6. Then one day he finds a strange message on his desk and his world starts coming apart at the seams. Something haunts him, something from the past that threatens to explode, to ruin everything he's worked for, everything he stands for. Can a black man be a ‘company man,' or is the price too high? Can anyone who buys into the corporate life not be changed by it? The suspenseful story that Billy Covington tells in COMPANY MAN asks these questions and explores the shadowy side of the contemporary business world. Brent Wade's first novel signals the emergence of an exciting new writer. COMPANY MAN is among the first contemporary African-American novels to go inside the offices on executive row - a place where the smile and handshake conceal fear and mistrust, a place where being different means being suspect. inventory #24555 ISBN: 0945575734.