Iron City (novel)
Encyclopedia
Iron City is a prison novel
by the American
writer Lloyd L. Brown based on an actual court case and inspired by the author's experiences as a labor organizer and political prisoner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
from 1936 to 1941.
The novel tells the story of Lonnie James, a black youth falsely convicted of-and sentenced to death for the murder of a white businessman. From inside the "iron city" of a state penitentiary in Pittsburgh, America's "iron city," three black Communist prisoners spearhead a fight to save James's life. Iron City confronts race relations in mid-twentieth-century America inside and outside prison walls and promotes a Communist vision of racial and class solidarity.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Lloyd L. Brown based on an actual court case and inspired by the author's experiences as a labor organizer and political prisoner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
from 1936 to 1941.
The novel tells the story of Lonnie James, a black youth falsely convicted of-and sentenced to death for the murder of a white businessman. From inside the "iron city" of a state penitentiary in Pittsburgh, America's "iron city," three black Communist prisoners spearhead a fight to save James's life. Iron City confronts race relations in mid-twentieth-century America inside and outside prison walls and promotes a Communist vision of racial and class solidarity.