{"product_id":"august-wilsons-american-century-laurence-a-glasco-9780822948544","title":"August Wilson's American Century: Life as Art","description":"Playwright August Wilson is best known for his American Century Cycle, a sequence of ten plays--including the Pulitzer Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eFences \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Piano Lesson\u003c\/i\u003e--that chronicle the lives of Black Americans in each decade of the twentieth century. But behind the celebrated plays stands a complex man shaped by his hometown's vibrant Black culture. In \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Place\u003c\/i\u003e, Laurence Glasco, one of the foremost historians of Black life in Pittsburgh, draws on Wilson's early poetry, archival material, and original interviews with family members, neighbors, and friends to show how the city and its residents shaped the playwright and his work. Wilson's overlapping identities as an outsider, warrior, race man, and poet helped him persevere in the face of setbacks, weave real-life observations with his poetry to craft memorable dialogue and compelling characters, and portray the realities of race in America in ways that have resonated with theatergoers and readers ever since. Although Wilson eventually left his hometown, the people and places of Pittsburgh remained with him, shining through in a body of work that brought the struggles and triumphs of the Black experience to a wide audience and changed American theater for the better.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Laurence A. Glasco\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822948540\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822948544\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Pittsburgh Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/10\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 416\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Laurence A. Glasco","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47202584854783,"sku":"9780822948544","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4951574e-cdd9-4b34-a0c7-962bd4fa2262.jpg?v=1756832796","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/august-wilsons-american-century-laurence-a-glasco-9780822948544","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}