 Cover of 1992 Vintage edition | |
| Author | Lorene Cary |
|---|---|
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf (1st. ed.) |
| ISBN | 978-0-679-73745-2 |
| Followed by | The Price of a Child (novel, 1995) |
Black Ice is a memoir by American author Lorene Cary. First published in 1991, it relates the African American author's experiences at the elite St. Paul's boarding school in New Hampshire. The book, Cary's first publication and the stepping stone to her career as a writer, was a critical and commercial success.
Cary grew up in a working-class background [1] in Philadelphia. In 1972, she was invited to the elite St. Paul's boarding school in New Hampshire, on scholarship, [2] as only the second African-American female student. [2] She spent two years at St. Paul's, graduating in 1974, [3] and then worked as a journalist for publications including Time . After first writing about her experience at St. Paul's in a magazine article in 1988, [4] she published a more complete memoir, Black Ice.
The book was published in 1991 by Alfred A. Knopf, [2] and Phillip Lopate, reviewing the book for The New York Times called it a "stunning memoir". [4] The book, "bruisingly honest about class, race and sex in America", [1] found success with the critics and was shortlisted the same year by The New York Times as "summer reading"; [5] her first publication, it was republished the next year by Vintage Books. [6]
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes is an English actor. He is best known for his lead role as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987), as well as for roles in films such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and the Saw series.
James Alan McPherson was an American essayist and short-story writer. He was the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was included among the first group of artists who received a MacArthur Fellowship. At the time of his death, McPherson was a professor emeritus of fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.
Phillips Academy is a co-educational college-preparatory school for boarding and day students located in Andover, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The academy enrolls approximately 1,150 students in grades 9 through 12, including postgraduate students. It is part of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.
Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational university preparatory private school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12, including postgraduate students. Located in Exeter, New Hampshire and founded in 1781, it is the sixth-oldest boarding school in the United States.
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Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, known professionally by her former married name, A. S. Byatt, was an English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages.
St. Paul's School is a college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school's 2,000-acre (8.1 km2), or 3.125 square mile, campus serves 540 students, who come from 37 states and 28 countries.
Donald Andrew Hall Jr. was an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He was the author of over 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and including 22 volumes of verse. Hall was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, and Christ Church, Oxford. Early in his career, he became the first poetry editor of The Paris Review (1953–1961), the quarterly literary journal, and was noted for interviewing poets and other authors on their craft.
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Black ice is hazardous frozen water.
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Lorene Cary is an American author, educator and social activist.
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