Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0679738908, Paperback)

Set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s, A Gathering of Old Men is a powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man.

"Poignant, powerful, earthy...a novel of Southern racial confrontation in which a group of elderly black men band together against whites who seek vengeance for the murder of one of their own."--Booklist

"A fine novel...there is a denouement that will shock and move readers as much as it does the characters."--Philadelphia Inquirer

Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0394725913, Paperback)

Beau Boutan, a Cajun farmer, is shot dead. Candy Marshall, the headstrong young plantation owner, tells everyone that she killed Beau. But when the sheriff arrives, he finds a dozen aging black men each claiming to have done the deed.

The sheriff fails to break the circle of protection thrown around the real murderer. He realizes that these men are not afraid of Boutan family vengeance, and welcome a chance to get even after whole lifetimes of oppression.

"Ernest J. Gaines makes it clear that dignity and fortitude are virtues available to men and women of all races at all times...profound and moving." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0394514688, Hardcover)

Set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s, A Gathering of Old Men is a powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man.

"Poignant, powerful, earthy...a novel of Southern racial confrontation in which a group of elderly black men band together against whites who seek vengeance for the murder of one of their own."--Booklist

"A fine novel...there is a denouement that will shock and move readers as much as it does the characters."--Philadelphia Inquirer


From the Trade Paperback edition.