Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down
Encyclopedia
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down, by the African-American writer Ishmael Reed
, is a satirical take on the traditional Western
. It is Ishmael Reed's second novel, following The Freelance Pallbearers, and was first published in 1969. It tells the story of the Loop Garoo Kid, an African-American cowboy who practices the religion of Neohoodooism, and describes his struggle against established religion and cultural oppression.
that spans some three centuries of history and references locations from across the United States landscape. Through the three colorful protagonists, Chief Showcase, a Native-American, Drag Gibson, a white land capitalist
, and the Loop Garoo Kid, an African-American cowboy, Reed criticizes the hypocrisy of the American Church, the warping of history to degrade the portrayal of African-Americans, and ways the "white man" attempts to destroy the "black man."
and monotheism
. The Loop Garoo Kid, bearing a strange religion from that “strange continent which serves as the subconscious of our planet” (152), uses Neohoodooism to “Break Down” this cultural broadcast.
troupe heads into Yellow Back Radio, a sparsely populated ghost town
overtaken by a child population in Indian garb. The circus troupe and the children are massacred by the adults that were chased out by the children, while Loop Garoo escapes with his life and a desire for vengeance. Drag Gibson, a homosexual and influential land-owner who is head of the city, is also introduced.
As Drag deals with the problems from a deteriorating city, Loop Garoo is saved from being eaten by wild animals by Chief Showcase, a Native American who fights his oppressors through suave and underhanded means. Loop begins his Hoodoo curses on Drag, giving him the retroactive itch and other inconveniences, as the conflict builds.
Drag murders his sixth wife and orders his seventh through the mail order service. Her name is Mustache Sal, a nymphomaniac
who seeks to murder Drag to inherit his vast fortunes. She proceeds to have sex with just about every main and minor male character, showing a complete lack of discrimination. As Drag continues into a progressively more deteriorating state of mind because of the uncontrollable loss of power and influence around him, Loop Garoo continues to gain influence through his appearance in town, soundly whipping the marshal and pushing the Preacher into the brink of insanity.
Mustache Sal’s attempt to poison her husband fails and she is fed to the iron-jawed pigs. Drag then brings in John Wesley Hardin, a sharp-shooting racist who kills black people out of pleasure. When Loop Garoo quickly kills him, Drag’s health quickly deteriorates until his savior, the Pope, arrives riding on red bull. He describes to the city’s citizens the Hoodoo Loop Garoo is putting on them and proceeds to capture Loop with no difficulty. However, when the Pope fails in persuading Loop to return to Rome with him, he leaves in defeat. Drag sets the execution of Loop up but fails to execute him; instead through the sudden appearance of children with new technology, Amazonian women
, and Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell's Raygun
wielding detectives, Drag falls into the pit of pigs and dies.
. He combats the imperialism and monopolistic greed of Drag Gibson and organized religion, casting spells and summoning Loa
to assist him. His struggle against Gibson symbolizes his fight against the power structure and repressive elements of white culture. He embodies African-American culture and religion; his art is as diverse and adaptable as the Hoodoo rituals he performs. Loop Garoo is the apocryphal brother of Jesus Christ, the love interest of the Virgin Mary, and the high priest of Neohoodooism.
Drag Gibson is an influential landowner who represents the impact of white culture on the West, the rapacious greed of land capitalists, and the rigidity of Judeo-Christian
values. He rules the town of Yellow Back Radio from his ranch house with a small army of ranch hands. A blatant racist with no regard for human life, he kills off a total of seven wives by the end of the novel. Drag clashes with Loop Garoo and Neohoodooism until he is finally eaten by Yellow Back Radio’s steel-jawed hogs.
Chief Showcase is the last surviving Native-American in the Yellow Back Radio region. After Drag Gibson slaughtered his tribe, he began writing militant poetry about white imperialism. Reed portrays Showcase as spiritual and advanced - he travels in a helicopter that confuses and terrifies his provincial white adversaries. Showcase fights back against his oppressors by playing both sides of an escalating conflict between Drag Gibson and the powers in Washington, D.C., working to stir up trouble between the powerful Western landowner and the greedy Federal Government.
who travelled with Loop Garoo’s circus. She taught Loop Garoo connaissance, or Hoodoo magic, and was killed by Drag Gibson’s cowhands when they burned down the circus. She reappears in the novel as a Loa
called upon by Loop Garoo during his summoning ritual.
Mustache Sal is Drag Gibson's nymphomaniac
mail-order bride. She marries Drag with the intention of poisoning him and inheriting his land, but he discovers her plan and feeds her to the executioner’s steel-jawed hogs. In contrast to the Black Cougar Saloon's Hurdy Gurdy girls and Drag’s previous wife, The Horrible Hybrid, Mustache Sal displays independence, intelligence, and open-mindedness. She doesn’t discriminate racially in her personal associations, consorting with Loop Garoo, the ranch hands, and Chief Showcase alike.
Reverend Boyd is the Protestant minister of Yellow Back Radio. He tries to connect with the youth of the town, hosting light shows for them, but his efforts fail. He turns to alcohol for comfort and is ridiculed by Loop Garoo and Pope Innocent. He is killed by the Pope with a can of DDT
-based insecticide.
Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell is a member of the U.S. military brass who schemes with Chief Showcase to take control of Drag Gibson's land. Reed portrays the Field Marshal as weak, petulant, and possibly homosexual, poking fun at the typically virile stereotype of the military man.
Neohoodooism is also an artistic aesthetic which values multicultural hybridism. The Loop Garoo Kid uses Neohoodooism to fight Drag Gibson, a symbol of the intolerance in white culture. Their battle represents the struggle of an inclusive African-American culture against a rigid Judeo-Christian
one.
Reed explains that he linked the religious and aesthetic aspects of Neohoodooism together because the one is a metaphor for the other; both aspects are essentially amalgamations: “"Voodoo is the perfect metaphor for the multicultural. Voodoo comes out of the fact that all these different tribes and cultures were brought from Africa
and Haiti
. All of their mythologies, knowledges, and herbal medicines, their folklores, jelled. It's an amalgamation like this country".
conflicts with Catholicism
, and Catholicism with Neohoodooism. Yellow Back Radio’s reverend, Preacher Boyd, symbolizes the failure of Protestantism. Despite his best efforts, the young people of the town ignore him, and as a result he descends into despair and alcoholism. The representatives of both the novel's other major religions scorn him. The Loop Garoo Kid, high priest of Neohoodooism, lashes the crucifix off Reverend Boyd’s neck with a bullwhip, and Pope Innocent
, leader of the Catholic Church, kills him with a can of insecticide. Protestantism in the town Yellow Back Radio is out of touch and dying. Catholicism and Neohoodooism conflict during an argument between Loop Garoo and Pope Innocent. Loop Garoo launches a scathing attack on the violent nature of the Catholic Church: “You and your crowd are the devils. The way you massacred the Gnostics, not to mention the Bogomils, Albigenses, and Waldenses” (165). Reed compares African-American Neohoodooism to Catholicism, contrasting the tolerance and inclusiveness of the former with the massacres and bigotry of the latter.
Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.Reed has been described as one of the most controversial...
, is a satirical take on the traditional Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
. It is Ishmael Reed's second novel, following The Freelance Pallbearers, and was first published in 1969. It tells the story of the Loop Garoo Kid, an African-American cowboy who practices the religion of Neohoodooism, and describes his struggle against established religion and cultural oppression.
Plot introduction
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down is a westernWestern fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 1900s and Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century...
that spans some three centuries of history and references locations from across the United States landscape. Through the three colorful protagonists, Chief Showcase, a Native-American, Drag Gibson, a white land capitalist
Land development
Land development refers to altering the landscape in any number of ways such as:* changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing...
, and the Loop Garoo Kid, an African-American cowboy, Reed criticizes the hypocrisy of the American Church, the warping of history to degrade the portrayal of African-Americans, and ways the "white man" attempts to destroy the "black man."
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down summarizes both the literary and cultural messages of the novel. “Yellow Back” references the traditionally yellow covers of lurid dime Westerns and “Radio” references Reed’s strategy of writing the book in an oral, broadcast tradition. In a 1974 interview, Reed states that he “based the book on old radio scripts in which the listener constructed the sets with his imagination; that’s why “radio”; also because it’s an oral book, a talking book…there’s more dialogue than scenery or description.” The “broke-down” indicates a deconstruction of the traditional American Western novel. “Yellow Back Radio” can also be seen as symbolic of a media broadcasting traditional American values of capitalismCapitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
. The Loop Garoo Kid, bearing a strange religion from that “strange continent which serves as the subconscious of our planet” (152), uses Neohoodooism to “Break Down” this cultural broadcast.
Plot summary
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down jumps into the narrative of the main protagonist, Loop Garoo, a black, silver tongued, circus cowboy, who represents the devil to the white men. The circusCircus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
troupe heads into Yellow Back Radio, a sparsely populated ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
overtaken by a child population in Indian garb. The circus troupe and the children are massacred by the adults that were chased out by the children, while Loop Garoo escapes with his life and a desire for vengeance. Drag Gibson, a homosexual and influential land-owner who is head of the city, is also introduced.
As Drag deals with the problems from a deteriorating city, Loop Garoo is saved from being eaten by wild animals by Chief Showcase, a Native American who fights his oppressors through suave and underhanded means. Loop begins his Hoodoo curses on Drag, giving him the retroactive itch and other inconveniences, as the conflict builds.
Drag murders his sixth wife and orders his seventh through the mail order service. Her name is Mustache Sal, a nymphomaniac
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...
who seeks to murder Drag to inherit his vast fortunes. She proceeds to have sex with just about every main and minor male character, showing a complete lack of discrimination. As Drag continues into a progressively more deteriorating state of mind because of the uncontrollable loss of power and influence around him, Loop Garoo continues to gain influence through his appearance in town, soundly whipping the marshal and pushing the Preacher into the brink of insanity.
Mustache Sal’s attempt to poison her husband fails and she is fed to the iron-jawed pigs. Drag then brings in John Wesley Hardin, a sharp-shooting racist who kills black people out of pleasure. When Loop Garoo quickly kills him, Drag’s health quickly deteriorates until his savior, the Pope, arrives riding on red bull. He describes to the city’s citizens the Hoodoo Loop Garoo is putting on them and proceeds to capture Loop with no difficulty. However, when the Pope fails in persuading Loop to return to Rome with him, he leaves in defeat. Drag sets the execution of Loop up but fails to execute him; instead through the sudden appearance of children with new technology, Amazonian women
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
, and Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell's Raygun
Raygun
Rayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
wielding detectives, Drag falls into the pit of pigs and dies.
Major Characters
The Loop Garoo Kid is an African-American cowboy and Neohoodoo hounganHoungan
Houngan is the term for a male priest in the voodoo religion in Haiti . The term is derived from the Fon word "hùn gan". There are two ranks of houngan, houngan asogwe and houngan sur pwen...
. He combats the imperialism and monopolistic greed of Drag Gibson and organized religion, casting spells and summoning Loa
Loa
The Loa are the spirits of the voodoo religion practiced in Louisiana, Haiti, Benin, and other parts of the world. They are also referred to as Mystères and the Invisibles, in which are intermediaries between Bondye —the Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity...
to assist him. His struggle against Gibson symbolizes his fight against the power structure and repressive elements of white culture. He embodies African-American culture and religion; his art is as diverse and adaptable as the Hoodoo rituals he performs. Loop Garoo is the apocryphal brother of Jesus Christ, the love interest of the Virgin Mary, and the high priest of Neohoodooism.
Drag Gibson is an influential landowner who represents the impact of white culture on the West, the rapacious greed of land capitalists, and the rigidity of Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
values. He rules the town of Yellow Back Radio from his ranch house with a small army of ranch hands. A blatant racist with no regard for human life, he kills off a total of seven wives by the end of the novel. Drag clashes with Loop Garoo and Neohoodooism until he is finally eaten by Yellow Back Radio’s steel-jawed hogs.
Chief Showcase is the last surviving Native-American in the Yellow Back Radio region. After Drag Gibson slaughtered his tribe, he began writing militant poetry about white imperialism. Reed portrays Showcase as spiritual and advanced - he travels in a helicopter that confuses and terrifies his provincial white adversaries. Showcase fights back against his oppressors by playing both sides of an escalating conflict between Drag Gibson and the powers in Washington, D.C., working to stir up trouble between the powerful Western landowner and the greedy Federal Government.
Minor Characters
Zozo Labrique is a Hoodoo mamboMambo (voodoo)
Mambo is the term for a female High Priest in the Vodou religion in Haiti. They are the highest form of clergy in the religion, whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole...
who travelled with Loop Garoo’s circus. She taught Loop Garoo connaissance, or Hoodoo magic, and was killed by Drag Gibson’s cowhands when they burned down the circus. She reappears in the novel as a Loa
Loa
The Loa are the spirits of the voodoo religion practiced in Louisiana, Haiti, Benin, and other parts of the world. They are also referred to as Mystères and the Invisibles, in which are intermediaries between Bondye —the Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity...
called upon by Loop Garoo during his summoning ritual.
Mustache Sal is Drag Gibson's nymphomaniac
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...
mail-order bride. She marries Drag with the intention of poisoning him and inheriting his land, but he discovers her plan and feeds her to the executioner’s steel-jawed hogs. In contrast to the Black Cougar Saloon's Hurdy Gurdy girls and Drag’s previous wife, The Horrible Hybrid, Mustache Sal displays independence, intelligence, and open-mindedness. She doesn’t discriminate racially in her personal associations, consorting with Loop Garoo, the ranch hands, and Chief Showcase alike.
Reverend Boyd is the Protestant minister of Yellow Back Radio. He tries to connect with the youth of the town, hosting light shows for them, but his efforts fail. He turns to alcohol for comfort and is ridiculed by Loop Garoo and Pope Innocent. He is killed by the Pope with a can of DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
-based insecticide.
Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell is a member of the U.S. military brass who schemes with Chief Showcase to take control of Drag Gibson's land. Reed portrays the Field Marshal as weak, petulant, and possibly homosexual, poking fun at the typically virile stereotype of the military man.
Neohoodooism
Reed interweaves the basic tenants of a religious aesthetic called Neohoodooism throughout the text. He achieves this chiefly through the statements of the Loop Garoo Kid, the spiritual high priest of Neohoodooism. The religious side of Neohoodooism has its roots in the African-American folk magic of Hoodoo, which Reed claims is based on the West African religion of Vodoun. Loop Garoo’s summoning of various Loa and hexing of Drag Gibson confirms these religious roots.Neohoodooism is also an artistic aesthetic which values multicultural hybridism. The Loop Garoo Kid uses Neohoodooism to fight Drag Gibson, a symbol of the intolerance in white culture. Their battle represents the struggle of an inclusive African-American culture against a rigid Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
one.
Reed explains that he linked the religious and aesthetic aspects of Neohoodooism together because the one is a metaphor for the other; both aspects are essentially amalgamations: “"Voodoo is the perfect metaphor for the multicultural. Voodoo comes out of the fact that all these different tribes and cultures were brought from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. All of their mythologies, knowledges, and herbal medicines, their folklores, jelled. It's an amalgamation like this country".
Religious Conflict
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down is rife with religious conflict. ProtestantismProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
conflicts with Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and Catholicism with Neohoodooism. Yellow Back Radio’s reverend, Preacher Boyd, symbolizes the failure of Protestantism. Despite his best efforts, the young people of the town ignore him, and as a result he descends into despair and alcoholism. The representatives of both the novel's other major religions scorn him. The Loop Garoo Kid, high priest of Neohoodooism, lashes the crucifix off Reverend Boyd’s neck with a bullwhip, and Pope Innocent
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
, leader of the Catholic Church, kills him with a can of insecticide. Protestantism in the town Yellow Back Radio is out of touch and dying. Catholicism and Neohoodooism conflict during an argument between Loop Garoo and Pope Innocent. Loop Garoo launches a scathing attack on the violent nature of the Catholic Church: “You and your crowd are the devils. The way you massacred the Gnostics, not to mention the Bogomils, Albigenses, and Waldenses” (165). Reed compares African-American Neohoodooism to Catholicism, contrasting the tolerance and inclusiveness of the former with the massacres and bigotry of the latter.
Racial Conflict
The struggle between a pluralistic African-American culture and an intolerant white culture is central to the novel. Loop Garoo, the impromptu spell-casting Hoodoo houngan, diametrically opposes the bigoted Drag Gibson. The conflict between these two men and the forces they represent leads to direct, racist violence. Drag Gibson sets fire to Loop Garoo's circus, killing his associates and forcing him to flee into the desert. He then hires the genocidal John Wesley Hardin to finish Loop Garoo off. Hardin symbolizes the racist tendencies of the Old West; he sees African-Americans as the devil incarnate and slaughters them without mercy. The Loop Garoo Kid responds to Drag's violence by calling on a diverse array of resources, unleashing the power of nature and the innumerable hexes and spells of the Hoodoo religion on Gibson and his cronies. Drag is quickly overwhelmed by the forces assembled against him, and not even Pope Innocent can save him from Loop Garoo. Reed argues that the transparent violence employed by white society is no match for the diversity and adaptability of African-American religion and culture. Reed also comments on the ethnocidal history of the Western Expansion. Chief Showcase's poetry bitterly reflects the atrocities committed against Native-Americans by white imperialists, and Showcase sardonically jeers at the promises of white leaders.Literary significance and reception
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down was received with varied criticisms: "Neil Schmitz, in an essay on Reed's fiction in Twentieth Century Literature (Apr. 1974), judged Yellow Back Radio to exhibit a “simplistic” focus and “diffused” energy, although many readers found it to be a comic tour de force."- "Ishmael Reed is a most talented humorist and possessor of a powerfully antic and lyric imagination...Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down should be read as hard evidence of Reed's uncommon talent." The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
- "Ishmael Reed has mastered the vocabulary of blasphemy. He skins all our sacred cows." Life Magazine
- "Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down is a full blown 'horse opera,' a surrealistic spoof of the Western with Indian chiefs aboard helicopters, stagecoaches and closed circuit TVs, cavalry charges of taxis." New York Review of Books
Allusions to other works
- Drag Gibson constantly reads a book entitled The Life of Catherine the Great
- The name Loop Garoo is similar to the French word for werewolf (Loup GarouWerewolfA werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
); a werewolf is also central to the plot of The Freelance Pallbearers. - The BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
is mentioned throughout the novel.
Allusions to actual history, geography and current science
- Thomas Jefferson'sThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
relationship with his female black slaves is satirized mercilessly in the novel. - Meriwether LewisMeriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
and William Clark appear briefly in the novel and are described as vice-presidents in Drag Gibson's Atrocity Corporation. - Drag Gibson hires John Wesley HardinJohn Wesley HardinJohn Wesley Hardin was an American outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk hero of the Old West. He was born in Bonham, Texas. Hardin found himself in trouble with the law at an early age, and spent the majority of his life being pursued by both local lawmen and federal troops of the...
to kill the Loop Garoo Kid. - The treacherous fur-trapper Royal Flush Gooseman is from St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. - New Orleans is referenced as a center of Hoodooism in the United States and the former home of Zozo Labrique
- Loop tells the Preacher Rev. Boyd to "check his sources" with Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume ApollinaireWilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
(p. 103) - Pope Innocent, makes an appearance as a worldly man who seeks compromise. He is most similar to Pope Innocent IVPope Innocent IVPope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
, a Pope known for his liberal stance on sex, sanctioning a man's right to "[divide] his flesh among many." - The novel mentions locations all over the world from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and Calcutta, to IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
and MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
Awards and nominations
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down was rated one of the 100 Best Books in the 20th Century by the American Book Review and a San Francisco Chronicle reader's poll.Publication history
- 2000, United States, First Dalkey Archive Edition, ISBN 1564782387, Paperback
- 1972, United States, Bantam, Paperback
- 1971, London, UK, Allison & BusbyAllison & BusbyAllison & Busby is a British publishing house, set up by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher....
- 1969, United States, Doubleday First Edition, Hardcover