Four Freedoms - Softcover

Crowley, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061231517 ISBN 13: 9780061231513

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2010

Synopsis

Pub Date: 2010-05-18 Pages: 400 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins US One of the most admired and honored of our contemporary literary artists. author John Crowley now brilliantly re-creates a time in America when ordinary people were asked to sacrifice their comforts and uproot their lives for the cause of freedom. In the early years of the 1940s. as the nations young men ship off to war. the call goes out for builders of the machinery necessary to defeat the enemy. To this purpose. a city ??has sprung up seemingly overnight in the windswept fields of Oklahoma: the Van Damme airplane factory. a gargantuan complex dedicated to the construction of the B-30 Pax. the largest bomber ever built Laborers-some men. but mostly women. many of. whom have never operated a rivet gun or held a screwdriver-flock to this place. eager to earn. to grow. to do their part. Many are awa...

About this title

Review:

""Four Freedoms".perfectly captures an era-WWII America-when the chosen are overseas and the left-behind are granted a rare moment of possibility. Crowley's extraordinary characters and the poignant, funny, disturbing ways they find to connect with one another make you wish this war would never end." -- San Francisco Chronicle, Top-Shelf Fiction Pick

"Four Freedoms".perfectly captures an era WWII America when the chosen are overseas and the left-behind are granted a rare moment of possibility. Crowley s extraordinary characters and the poignant, funny, disturbing ways they find to connect with one another make you wish this war would never end. --San Francisco Chronicle, Top-Shelf Fiction Pick

"One gets the feeling that Crowley loves observing women because he captures them so precisely and so intimately....FOUR FREEDOMS goes back in time... bringing us stories filled with love, loss, integrity, and heart."--www.about.com

"Brilliantly realized .... More rich, satisfying food for thought from one of America's most imaginative and accomplished novelists."--Kirkus Reviews on FOUR FREEDOMS

"Ultimately, the significance of "Four Freedoms" lies in its thoroughness, the sheer specificity. . . . The result is an accessible, painstakingly crafted work that offers many pleasures and rewards. It could be the novel that finally brings Crowley the wide attention he has long deserved."--Washington Post

""Four Freedoms" is so rich and so evocative and so authentic."--Tom Brokaw

"In a tricky narrative that weaves in and out of the novel's present (1942-5) and lavishly detailed flashbacks to the characters' earlier lives, Crowley creates a fascinating microcosm....More rich, satisfying food for thought from one of America's most imaginative and accomplished novelists."--Kirkus Reviews (pointer) for FOUR FREEDOMS

""Four Freedoms".perfectly captures an era--WWII America--when the chosen are overseas and the left-behind are granted a rare moment of possibility. Crowley's extraordinary characters and the poignant, funny, disturbing ways they find to connect with one another make you wish this war would never end."--San Francisco Chronicle, Top-Shelf Fiction Pick

Ultimately, the significance of "Four Freedoms" lies in its thoroughness, the sheer specificity. . . . The result is an accessible, painstakingly crafted work that offers many pleasures and rewards. It could be the novel that finally brings Crowley the wide attention he has long deserved. --Washington Post"

"Four Freedoms."perfectly captures an eraWWII Americawhen the chosen are overseas and the left-behind are granted a rare moment of possibility. Crowley s extraordinary characters and the poignant, funny, disturbing ways they find to connect with one another make you wish this war would never end. --San Francisco Chronicle, Top-Shelf Fiction Pick"

From the Back Cover:

In the early years of the 1940s, as the nation's young men ship off to combat, a city springs up, seemingly overnight in the fields of Oklahoma: the Van Damme airplane factory, a gargantuan complex dedicated to the construction of the necessary machinery of warfare. Laborers--mostly women--flock to this place, enticed by the opportunity to be something more than wife and homemaker. For Vi, fleeing a dying ranch; for Connie, following an unfaithful husband; for Diane, leaving behind the hot music and soldier boys to pursue something different, adult, and real; their journeys will be liberating in ways they couldn't previously imagine, and it will lead each of them to Prosper Olander--disabled artist, forger, friend, lover, and the true heart and soul of the temporary city--who will change their lives in profound and unexpected ways.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061231517
• ISBN 13: 9780061231513
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400