Ask the Author: Leonard Pitts Jr.
Answered Questions (6)
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Yes. I’m editing a sequel now. If it survives that process, then maybe…
Leonard Pitts Jr.
I have literally no idea what you’re talking about.
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Afraid not. I’ve never had invite, sorry to say. Though I have visited London a couple of times as a tourist.
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Getting paid to do what you’d be doing anyway for free.
Leonard Pitts Jr.
I actually do have plans for revisiting those characters. I’ll plan to start writing early next year.
Leonard Pitts Jr.
From a number of things, actually. For me, books often start with themes and places even more than with characters.
For whatever reason, I've been particularly fascinated in recent years with America in the 1940s, which I view as the hinge point of the 20th century and the era which, more than any other, shaped the world we live in today. I wanted the challenge of trying to recreate that time in a book.
Thematically, I wanted to write about faith - not as something clean or easy as it is often portrayed, but as something hard and difficult to hold onto when the whole world is burning down around you - and yet, more critical to hold onto for just that reason.
And then, there's race. We often hear various firebrands prophesize a looming race war. My contention is that we've already had it, and it was called World War II. The war is not often framed in that way, but consider: Hitler sought to annihilate the Jews because he considered them an inferior race. He turned on the Russians whom he also considered his biological lessers. The Japanese ran riot in Asia, believing other Asians their inferiors. And America plunged in to fight those bigoted ideologies with...wait for it...a Jim Crow military. As that military struggled overseas, Japanese Americans were being interred, Mexican-Americans were being beaten up by soldiers and sailors in L.A. and African-Americans were enduring mass casualty attacks from white Americans here at home. All this at a time when the nation was theoretically pulling together for victory.
So those are the three streams of thought that came together to produce "The Last Thing You Surrender." I'm looking forward to hearing what you think.
For whatever reason, I've been particularly fascinated in recent years with America in the 1940s, which I view as the hinge point of the 20th century and the era which, more than any other, shaped the world we live in today. I wanted the challenge of trying to recreate that time in a book.
Thematically, I wanted to write about faith - not as something clean or easy as it is often portrayed, but as something hard and difficult to hold onto when the whole world is burning down around you - and yet, more critical to hold onto for just that reason.
And then, there's race. We often hear various firebrands prophesize a looming race war. My contention is that we've already had it, and it was called World War II. The war is not often framed in that way, but consider: Hitler sought to annihilate the Jews because he considered them an inferior race. He turned on the Russians whom he also considered his biological lessers. The Japanese ran riot in Asia, believing other Asians their inferiors. And America plunged in to fight those bigoted ideologies with...wait for it...a Jim Crow military. As that military struggled overseas, Japanese Americans were being interred, Mexican-Americans were being beaten up by soldiers and sailors in L.A. and African-Americans were enduring mass casualty attacks from white Americans here at home. All this at a time when the nation was theoretically pulling together for victory.
So those are the three streams of thought that came together to produce "The Last Thing You Surrender." I'm looking forward to hearing what you think.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more