# A Different Drummer

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/william-melvin-kelley/a-different-drummer

![A Different Drummer](https://quivercdn.com/covers/riverrun/william-melvin-kelley/a-different-drummer_978-17-8747-802-2.jpg?v=2026-05-19%2013%3A05%3A51)

- Authors: [William Melvin Kelley](https://www.bookquiver.com/william-melvin-kelley)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2018-11-01

## Description

In 1962, aged just 24, William Melvin Kelley's debut novel A Different Drummer earned him critical comparisons to James Baldwin and William Faulkner. Fifty-five years later, author and journalist Kathryn Schulz happened upon the novel serendipitously and was inspired to write the New Yorker article 'The Lost Giant of American Literature', included as a foreword to this edition. June, 1957. One afternoon, in the backwater town of Sutton, a young black farmer by the name of Tucker Caliban matter-of-factly throws salt on his field, shoots his horse and livestock, sets fire to his house and departs the southern state. And thereafter, the entire African-American population leave with him. The reaction that follows is told across a dozen chapters, each from the perspective of a different white townsperson. These are boys, girls, men and women; either liberal or conservative, bigoted or sympathetic - yet all of whom are grappling with this spontaneous, collective rejection of subordination. A lost masterpiece republished for 2018, A Different Drummer is for readers who have been waiting for the next rediscovered classic. (P)2018 Quercus Editions Limited

## Editions

### A Different Drummer

- Publisher: riverrun
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-17-8747-802-2
- Published: 2018-11-01
- Language: en_GB

### A Different Drummer

- Publisher: riverrun
- Medium: audio
- ISBN: 978-17-8747-934-0
- Published: 2018-11-01
- Language: en_GB

### A Different Drummer

- Publisher: riverrun
- ISBN: 978-17-8747-803-9
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2018-11-01
- Language: en_GB

### A Different Drummer

- Publisher: anchor
- ISBN: 978-03-8541-390-9
- Pages: 224
- Published: 1990-05-01
- Language: en_US