Air traffic : a memoir of ambition and manhood in America / Gregory Pardlo.
By: Pardlo, Gregory [author.].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First edition.Description: x, 253 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781524731762; 1524731765; 9780525432210; 0525432213.Subject(s): Pardlo, Gregory | Pardlo, Gregory -- Family | African American authors -- 20th century -- Biography | Authors, American -- 20th century -- Family relationships | Fathers and sons -- United States | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Literary | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Personal Memoirs | LITERARY COLLECTIONS -- Essays | Fathers and sons -- United StatesGenre/Form: Autobiographies. | Nonfiction. | Autobiographies.Additional physical formats: Online version:: Air traffic.Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
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Book - Paperback | Camden Downtown | Biography | Adult | B Par (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000009414074 | |||
Book | Voorhees | Biography | Adult | B Par (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000008920303 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The Pardlos were an average, middle-class African American family living in a New Jersey Levittown- charismatic Gregory Sr., an air traffic controller, his wife, and their two sons, bookish Greg Jr. and musical-talent Robbie. But when "Big Greg" loses his job after participating in the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981, he becomes a disillusioned, toxic, looming presence in the household--and a powerful rival for young Greg. While Big Greg succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family's money, Greg Jr. rebels--he joins a boot camp for prospective Marines, follows a woman to Denmark, drops out of college again and again, and yields to alcoholism. Years later, he falls for a beautiful, no-nonsense woman named Ginger and becomes a parent himself. Then, he finally grapples with the irresistible yet ruinous legacy of masculinity he inherited from his father. In chronicling his path to recovery and adulthood--Gregory Pardlo gives us a compassionate, loving ode to his father, to fatherhood, and to the frustrating-yet-redemptive ties of family, as well as a scrupulous, searing examination of how African American manhood is shaped by contemporary American life.
An introduction: Rt. 66 -- The up-to-daters club -- Student union -- Loser -- What is your quest? -- Air traffic -- The minority business consortium -- Cartography -- A moving violation -- Marine boy -- The wreck of the conquest -- He ain't heavy -- "Hurrah for Schoelcher!" -- Colored people's time -- Private school -- Tolle, Lege -- Behind the wheel -- The strip -- On Intervention.
"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, his first work of prose: a deeply felt memoir of a family's bonds and a meditation on race, addiction, fatherhood, ambition, and American culture The Pardlos were an average, middle-class African American family living in a New Jersey Levittown: charismatic Gregory Sr., an air traffic controller, his wife, and their two sons, bookish Greg Jr. and musical-talent Robbie. But when "Big Greg" loses his job after participating in the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981, he becomes a disillusioned, toxic, looming presence in the household--and a powerful rival for young Greg. While Big Greg succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family's money, Greg Jr. rebels--he joins a boot camp for prospective Marines, follows a woman to Denmark, drops out of college again and again, and yields to alcoholism. Years later, he falls for a beautiful, no-nonsense woman named Ginger and becomes a parent himself. Then, he finally grapples with the irresistible yet ruinous legacy of masculinity he inherited from his father. In chronicling his path to recovery and adulthood--Gregory Pardlo gives us a compassionate, loving ode to his father, to fatherhood, and to the frustrating-yet-redemptive ties of family, as well as a scrupulous, searing examination of how African American manhood is shaped by contemporary American life"--
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- An Introduction: Rt. 66 (p. 3)
- Part 1
- The Up-to-Daters Club (p. 11)
- Student Union (p. 23)
- Loser (p. 33)
- What Is Your Quest? (p. 39)
- Air Traffic (p. 43)
- The Minority Business Consortium (p. 67)
- Cartography (p. 76)
- A Moving Violation (p. 95)
- Marine Boy (p. 98)
- Part 2
- The Wreck of the Conquest (p. 119)
- He Ain't Heavy (p. 128)
- "Hurrah for Schoelcher!" (p. 136)
- Colored People's Time (p. 157)
- Private School (p. 178)
- Tolle, Lege (p. 202)
- Behind the Wheel (p. 213)
- The Strip (p. 219)
- On Intervention (p. 229)
- Acknowledgments (p. 255)