New Releases by T. S. Stribling

In a surprising turn from his more famous work, the serious and satirical Teeftallow, T.S. Sterling writes comically and lightly about Venezuela in Fombombo. American salesman Thomas Strawbridge tries to make a sale with a Venezuelan dictator, General Fombombo. Strawbridge eventually falls in love with Fombombo''s wife despite the danger of clashing with the general, physically and financially. Mixing satire and cynicism, Fombombo is one of Sterling''s funnier works, weaving in elements of Sterling''s own experience in Latin America.

Birthright (1922) is a novel by T.S. Stribling. Originally serialized in Century Magazine, the novel marked a major departure for Stribling, whose previous works had avoided serious themes altogether. Birthright was praised by black and white critics upon publication, and allowed Stribling to move his career away from genre fiction and into the pressing historical and social questions of his time. Peter is a young man with a powerful vision. After graduating from Harvard, he returns to his hometown of Hooker’s Bend, Tennessee, where he gains a new understanding of the prejudices and laws that shaped his upbringing. Born into a family of mixed racial heritage, Peter has long understood the necessity of passing, which allows him to avoid violence and to further his personal interests. Back in the South, however, he realizes that his experiences as a student have granted him an opportunity to change his community for the better. As he attempts to educate members of the local black and white communities, his hope for the future soon turns to doubt and disillusionment. Birthright, a triumphant and tragic story of race in America, was adapted by pioneering director Oscar Micheaux into a 1924 silent film and a 1939 talkie of the same name. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of T.S. Stribling’s Birthright is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Thomas Sigismund Stribling (March 4, 1881 - July 8, 1965) was an American writer and lawyer who published under the name T.S . Stribling. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1933 for his novel The Store. After moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 1907, Stribling picked up a job at the Taylor-Trotwood Magazine as a writer and salesman of ads and subscriptions and as "a sort of sublimated office boy." (Kunitz, 1359) It was at the magazine that Stribling had two works of fiction published: The Imitator and The Thrall of the Green, both reflecting the social themes for which he would later become renowned.