The Siege of Harlem

by Warren Miller

The tragic story of Lance Huggins, Harlem's Prime Minister, Crystal Brindle, his beautiful wife and Art Rustram, Lance's nephew and Harlem's Foreign Minister is told artfully, humorously, hypnotically by an old man to an audience of his grandchildren.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"Over the last year, I acquired three near-future SF novels exploring issues of race conflict in New York City written by authors of different racial backgrounds (White, African American, and Chicano): Warren Miller’s The Siege of Harlem (1964); John A. Williams’ Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light: A Novel of Some Probability (1969); and Enrique Hank Lopez’ Afro-6 (1969). I’ve decided to review [...]"

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange artifact of the sixties. Written in 1964, published in 1965, it tells the story of when Harlem seceded from the Union and built its own government. The cover blurb says “Beneath the hilarity is a clear warning: ‘Laugh at your peril. It could happen.’”

Except it isn’t hilarious (it wasn’t meant to be, though it is funny) and it definitely couldn’t happen. Not then and not now. It’s a serious fairy tale in the “Animal Farm” tradition, with the older book’s humor but without that book’s pessimism.

Still, you can’t blame the author for the cover blurb. Can’t even really blame the publisher, as they’re attributing it to TIME. But it sure makes for a hilarious cover now, over thirty years after The Siege of Harlem was written.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

1964. Nearly 75 years after Harlem seceded from the Union to become its own nation, an old veteran narrates the story of the secession to the children. Great language and a captivating tale. Would that it were true. Although the use of bombs would probably come into it if anyone really tried it. For some reason the US never decides to just bomb Harlem to smithereens when they secede.

[Hunter]

This was another one I picked up with the instant classic, Gone to be Snakes Now, and I'm interested to see if it's any good.