Man with the Golden Arm

The Man with the Golden Arm tells the story of Frankie Machine, the golden arm dealer at a back street Chicago gambling den. Frankie reckons he’s a tough guy in the Chicago underworld but finds that he’s not tough enough to kick his heroin addiction. With consummate skill and a finely-tuned ear for the authentic dialogue of the backstreets, Algren lays bare the tragedy and humour of Frankie’s world. Features the first UK publication of a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut and an afterword by Studs Terkel.

Reviews of Man with the Golden Arm

This is a man writing and you should not read it if you cannot take a punch – Mr Algren can hit with both hands and move around and he will kill you if you are not awfully careful … Mr Algren, boy, you are good. — Ernest Hemingway Algren's skill brings his city to life; his writing carries you into his heart and his outraged compassion ensures that his story is as relevant now as ever. * The Observer * What Runyon did for New York with Guys and Dolls, Algren does for the 'windy city'…On its last page The Man with the Golden Arm lapses into – or should that be achieves – the condition of poetry, something Algren's writing was always close to. * The Herald * America's finest, yet most neglected writer…Nelson Algren's enduring love for the Windy City and its struggling immigrants fired his hauntingly brilliant prose…Thanks to Rebel Inc, The Man with the Golden Arm may now be remembered as Algren's work. It would be only a fragment of what he deserved. * Bizarre *