Long Books
Chester Himes

Chester Himes’s Followers (489)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Chester Himes


Born
in Jefferson City, The United States
July 29, 1909

Died
November 12, 1984

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers


Chester Bomar Himes began writing in the early 1930s while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. From there, he produced short stories for periodicals such as Esquire and Abbott's Monthly. When released, he focussed on semi-autobiographical protest novels.

In 1953, Himes emigrated to France, where he was approached by Marcel Duhamel of Gallimard to write a detective series for Série Noire, which had published works from the likes of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson. Himes would be the first black author included in the series. The resulting Harlem Cycle gained him celebrity when he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for La Reine des Pommes (now known in English as A Rage in Harlem) in 1958. Three of t ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.87 · 22,924 ratings · 2,530 reviews · 129 distinct works • Similar authors
A Rage in Harlem (Harlem Cy...
3.89 avg rating — 7,757 ratings — published 1957 — 104 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
If He Hollers Let Him Go
by
3.97 avg rating — 2,646 ratings — published 1945 — 57 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Real Cool Killers (Harl...
3.86 avg rating — 2,666 ratings — published 1958 — 43 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Cotton Comes to Harlem (Har...
3.80 avg rating — 2,581 ratings — published 1964 — 31 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Blind Man with a Pistol (Ha...
3.57 avg rating — 1,060 ratings — published 1969 — 39 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Crazy Kill (Harlem Cycl...
3.81 avg rating — 836 ratings — published 1959 — 27 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Heat's On (Harlem Cycle...
3.88 avg rating — 803 ratings — published 1961 — 65 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
All Shot Up (Harlem Cycle, #5)
3.85 avg rating — 802 ratings — published 1960
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Big Gold Dream (Harlem ...
3.68 avg rating — 497 ratings — published 1959 — 51 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Yesterday Will Make You Cry
by
3.82 avg rating — 342 ratings — published 1952 — 19 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
More books by Chester Himes…

Series by Chester Himes

A Rage in Harlem The Real Cool Killers The Crazy Kill The Big Gold Dream All Shot Up The Heat's On Cotton Comes to Harlem
(9 books)
by
3.84 avg rating — 17,185 ratings

Related News

Imagine a Shakespearean retelling of The Godfather set in a small Southern town, and you’ll have an idea about what to expect in Shawn Andre...
Read more...
179 likes · 0 comments
  Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel, Black Buck—which Colson Whitehead calls a “mesmerizing novel, executing a...
Read more...
83 likes · 33 comments
When it comes to writing, Jocelyn Johnson is about that life.    The Virginia native—born, bred, and wed—has had aspirations of being a...
Read more...
30 likes · 0 comments
Quotes by Chester Himes  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“It seemed so illogical to punish some poor criminal for doing something that civilization taught him how to do so he could have something that civilization taught him how to want. It seemed to him as wrong as if they had hung the gun that shot the man.”
― Chester Himes, Yesterday Will Make You Cry
27 likes
Like

“Don't ever lean your whole weight on happiness, Jimmy. You fall too hard too hard when it gives away”
― Chester Himes, Yesterday Will Make You Cry
10 likes
Like

“When you get to mixing sex and religion, it will make anybody crazy.”
― Chester Himes, The Crazy Kill
tags: religion, sex
6 likes
Like

Polls

March 2021 Group Read

 
  14 votes 28.0%

 
  10 votes 20.0%

 
  7 votes 14.0%

 
  7 votes 14.0%

 
  5 votes 10.0%

 
  5 votes 10.0%

Sula
 
  1 vote 2.0%

Those Bones are Not My Child (write-in)
 
  1 vote 2.0%

50 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
2026 Reading Chal...: Toni - 35 Books for 2012 40 45 Dec 02, 2012 06:37PM  
2026 Reading Chal...: Toni's Corner 8 31 Dec 07, 2012 06:39PM  
2026 Reading Chal...: I Spy Challenge January-December 129 174 Dec 31, 2012 01:58PM  
The Next Best Boo...: This topic has been closed to new comments. The Last Letter Game 2244 2346 May 30, 2013 12:41PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Winter Challenge 2013: Completed Tasks (Do Not Delete Posts) 2478 655 Feb 28, 2014 09:00PM  
Black Coffee: This topic has been closed to new comments. May Classic Read 8 24 Mar 09, 2014 06:52PM  
College Students! : Fall/Winter 2013-14: Leader Board and Completed Tasks 253 170 Apr 01, 2014 12:39PM  
You'll love this ...: Anna M's Chunkster 2014 65 130 Apr 15, 2014 01:46PM