Hey, Liberal!: A Novel

by Shawn Shiflett

Overview

In this honest novel set in the racial tinderbox of Chicago in 1969, thirteen-year-old Simon Fleming, the white son of a civil rights activist minister, is sent to a predominately African American high school, feeling charged by his parents to carry out the family’s commitment to the community and school integration. Here, he is dropped into a world where gang warfare, drug abuse, and violence are rampant. Simon’s quest for survival takes him through a failed student boycott organized by community leaders, as well as through numerous race riots, and brings him into contact with gangbangers, political activists, racist cops, and unlikely new friends. Hey, Liberal! exposes an out-of-touch education system and the universality of racial violence amid a nation moving, inch by hard-fought inch, toward a more culturally diverse and inclusive future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613735602
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Shawn Shiflett is an associate professor of creative writing at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of Hidden Place, which was included in Library Journal’s 2004 “Summer Highs, Fall Firsts” list of “most successful debuts.”

Editorial Reviews

"Hey, Liberal! is an arresting coming-of-age story, presenting an entirely singular perspective on race and politics during the turbulent late 1960s. Utilizing satire, pathos, and humor, Simon’s story is as engaging as it is challenging.” —Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned, Office Girl, and Marvel and a Wonder

“Shawn Shiflett had me laughing, crying, and cringing. (But yeah, we were that uncertain, naive, clueless, and confused.) Wonderful characters, fine storytelling, and a great read, even with the cringes.” —David Bradley, author of The Chaneysville Incident, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction



"Shiflett does a nice job illuminating a complex situation from multiple perspectives, and readers will find the book's brisk final third...difficult to put down." —Kirkus Reviews


“[Author Shawn] Shiflett is adept at capturing teenage angst and vernacular, as well as the uncomfortable and awkward ways kids navigate friendship and shift alliances.” —Newcity


“An edgy, raw insider account of student life during the late-1960s racial strife and protest movements that is distressingly pertinent to today.” —Booklist


“Hey, Liberal! … is a timely look at race, politics, integration, and violence.” —Chicago Review of Books

From the Publisher

2016-06-15
The white son of a minister active in the civil rights movement is forced to question the values he grew up with after he begins attending a mostly African-American high school in turbulent 1969 Chicago.Shiflett (Hidden Place, 2004) tells the story of 14-year-old Simon Fleming, a white student who believes in integration—he participates in a boycott to end racist policies at the school—but whose skin color also makes him a frequent target of bullying and violence. After he tries to stop a group of black boys from beating another white student, he's rescued by a racist school cop, Officer Clark, who offers him protection in exchange for intel on the boycott. Other central characters include Clyde, a black classmate who tries to keep Simon out of trouble, and Simon's father, Adam, whose own commitment to civil rights blinds him, at least at first, to the challenges his son faces. Most effectively (and affectingly) drawn among the supporting cast is Louis, a mercurial and often drug-addled classmate. Louis' own minister father was killed while advocating for civil rights, and it is Louis' complicated relationship with Simon that gives the novel's most powerful moments their weight. Shiflett tends to let his scenes go long, and some plot elements feel overly familiar (Officer Clark's act wears thin quickly, Simon's requisite love interest isn't given much to do). Still, Shiflett does a nice job illuminating a complex situation from multiple perspectives, and readers will find the book's brisk final third—when various plotlines coalesce around rioting at the school—difficult to put down. An imperfect but admirably frank exploration of the challenges of integration in the late 1960s.

Kirkus Reviews