{"product_id":"air-traffic-a-memoir-of-ambition-and-manhood-in-america-gregory-pardlo","title":"Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America; Gregory Pardlo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGregory Pardlo's father was a brilliant and charismatic man--a leading labor organizer who presided over a happy suburban family of four. But when he loses his job following the famous air traffic controllers' strike of 1981, he succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family's money on more and more ostentatious whims. In the face of this troubling model and disillusioned presence in the household, young Gregory rebels. Struggling to distinguish himself on his own terms, he hustles off to Marine Corps boot camp. He moves across the world, returning to the United States only to take a job as a manager-cum-barfly at his family's jazz club.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAir Traffic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e follows Gregory as he builds a life that honors his history without allowing it to define his future. Slowly, he embraces the challenges of being a poet, a son, and a father as he enters recovery for alcoholism and tends to his family. In this memoir, written in lyrical and sparkling prose, Gregory tries to free himself from the overwhelming expectations of race and class, and from the tempting yet ruinous legacy of American masculinity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAir Traffic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a richly realized, deeply felt ode to one man's remarkable father, to fatherhood, and to the frustrating yet redemptive ties of family. It is also a scrupulous, searing examination of how manhood can be fashioned in our cultural landscape.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eApril 10, 2018\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eGregory Pardlo’s first book, \u003cem\u003eTotem\u003c\/em\u003e, received the American Poetry Review\/ Honickman Prize in 2007. His poems have appeared in \u003cem\u003eAmerican Poetry Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBoston Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003ePloughshares\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTin House\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as anthologies including \u003cem\u003eAngles of Ascent\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eNorton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e, and two editions of \u003cem\u003eBest American Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e. He is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a fellowship for translation from the National Endowment for the Arts. An associate editor of \u003cem\u003eCallaloo\u003c\/em\u003e, he is currently a teaching fellow in Undergraduate Writing at Columbia University.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"vendor-unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44647375601986,"sku":"","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/products\/1b75c0_00fadbd08ab24e2e9ca97906b2ca2cc9_mv2.jpg?v=1677802316","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/air-traffic-a-memoir-of-ambition-and-manhood-in-america-gregory-pardlo","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}