Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison

From the author of bestselling  Invisible Man— the classic novel of African-American experience—this long-awaited second novel  tells an evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century. Brilliantly crafted, moving, and wise,  Juneteenth  is the work of an American master.

"Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? 

Here is the master of American vernacular at the height of his powers, evoking the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech.