{"id":12811,"date":"2020-05-14T14:48:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T21:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3rdactmagazine.com\/?p=12811"},"modified":"2020-05-19T00:40:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T07:40:58","slug":"night-hawks-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Night Hawks: Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles Johnson<\/strong>
\nReviewed by Robin Lindley<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stories are the communal currency of humanity. National Book Award-winning author (Middle Passage<\/em>) and University of Washington professor Charles Johnson (profiled in the Winter 2018 issue of this magazine) writes stories that touch the broad scope of human experience and deepen a sense of wonder and mystery. His newest collection, Night Hawks: Stories <\/em>(Scribner), <\/em>reflects his limitless creative and imaginative powers, delving into the struggles and desires of characters across historical periods and cultural worlds.<\/p>\n

All but one of these stories was originally written for the Humanities Washington program Bedtime Stories\u2014a venture launched two decades ago to promote literacy and learning. The title story \u201cNight Hawks\u201d invites readers in on the nighttime conversations of two great American writers, Johnson and his dear friend, the revered Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, who died in 2005 at age 60. The two met regularly at a Capitol Hill caf\u00e9 in Seattle for 15 years, and the story gives readers a sense of their wide-ranging discussions on art, religion, politics, race, their families, and their hometowns.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s dinners with Wilson often lasted until two in the morning. In \u201cNight Hawks,\u201d the two consider the meaning of their lives as artists of color. When their usual caf\u00e9 closes, they reconvene at an all-night pancake house. After they witness a bloody fight there between several young black men, the role of their work and shared love of beauty gains clarity.<\/p>\n

Some stories in Night Hawks<\/em> require the characters to make vexing life or death decisions. In \u201cFollow the Drinking Gourd,\u201d a freed black man in the antebellum North travels south to free his wife\u2019s cousin and her infant from slavery. As they flee toward freedom, they are pursued by brutal slave hunters, \u201csoul catchers.\u201d The man must decide whether to kill the crying baby to save himself and the woman.\u00a0 In \u201cIdols of the Cave,\u201d a Muslim-American soldier in the war in Afghanistan faces the crude racism of his commanding officer and a perplexing enemy.<\/p>\n

Humor also comes to play. In \u201cThe Cynic,\u201d the Greek philosopher Plato tries to communicate obtuse abstractions to mocking students. Eventually, nature ambushes the great thinker with beauty. In \u201cThe Prince of Ascetics,\u201d an insanely jealous monk skeptically observes the struggles and eventual apotheosis of a man who has forsaken all for awakening.<\/p>\n

Seattle provides a backdrop for several stories. The extensively researched \u201cThe Night Belongs to Phoenix Jones\u201d features a real crime-fighting Seattle superhero who is joined by a fictional English professor. \u201cWelcome to Wedgwood\u201d is set in Johnson\u2019s neighborhood and peppered with identifiable local haunts such as the QFC grocery store on 35th<\/sup> Avenue Northeast.<\/p>\n

For Johnson, great stories must contain \u201ca measure of honest hope for the promise of our human species.\u201d \u00a0Night Hawks<\/em> exudes wonder and generosity and hope. The aim is to persist\u2014 to continue even through the darkest nights.<\/p>\n

Robin Lindley<\/em><\/strong> is a Seattle-based writer and attorney, and the features editor of the History News Network (hnn.us). Email him at robinlindley@gmail.com. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles Johnson Reviewed by Robin Lindley Stories are the communal currency of humanity. National Book Award-winning author (Middle Passage) and University of Washington professor Charles Johnson (profiled in theMore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","category-book-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNight Hawks: Stories — 3rd Act Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Night Hawks: Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Charles Johnson Reviewed by Robin Lindley Stories are the communal currency of humanity. National Book Award-winning author (Middle Passage) and University of Washington professor Charles Johnson (profiled in theMore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"3rd Act Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Starr Marshall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@3rdActMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Starr Marshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Starr Marshall\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048\"},\"headline\":\"Night Hawks: Stories\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":{\"1\":\"Book Review\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\",\"name\":\"Night Hawks: Stories — 3rd Act Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Night Hawks: Stories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\",\"name\":\"3rd Act Magazine\",\"description\":\"Aging with Confidence\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"3rd Act Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":763,\"caption\":\"3rd Act Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/3rdActMag\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/93455502\/admin\/feed\/posts\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048\",\"name\":\"Victoria Starr Marshall\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Night Hawks: Stories — 3rd Act Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Night Hawks: Stories","og_description":"By Charles Johnson Reviewed by Robin Lindley Stories are the communal currency of humanity. National Book Award-winning author (Middle Passage) and University of Washington professor Charles Johnson (profiled in theMore","og_url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/","og_site_name":"3rd Act Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/","article_published_time":"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Victoria Starr Marshall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@3rdActMag","twitter_site":"@3rdActMag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria Starr Marshall","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/"},"author":{"name":"Victoria Starr Marshall","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048"},"headline":"Night Hawks: Stories","datePublished":"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/"},"wordCount":509,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg","articleSection":{"1":"Book Review"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/","name":"Night Hawks: Stories — 3rd Act Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-14T21:48:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-19T07:40:58+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NightHawksCover-scaled.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/night-hawks-stories\/book-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Night Hawks: Stories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/","name":"3rd Act Magazine","description":"Aging with Confidence","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#organization","name":"3rd Act Magazine","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3rd-Act-logo-orange-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":763,"caption":"3rd Act Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3rdActMagazine\/","https:\/\/x.com\/3rdActMag","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/93455502\/admin\/feed\/posts\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3c9ccf25e7e25f470f43657014466048","name":"Victoria Starr Marshall"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12811"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12888,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12811\/revisions\/12888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}