The Pride

by Wallace Ford

Submersed in glamour, power, drama, and the highest levels of society, four members of "The Pride"--a coterie of New York's most accomplished African Americans--gather together to mourn the passing of the most successful black businessman in American history and reevaluate their own lives. Original.

372 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Wallace Ford is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where he was a Senior Fellow, and Harvard Law School. He is the principal of a management consulting firm, a member of the faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a practicing lawyer. Working extensively in Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, his clients have included the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Irish Stock Exchange, and the National Investment Bank of Jamaica. In addition to working as a corporate lawyer, he has been an investment banker, a professional actor, manager of a venture capital company, and a feature writer for Essence and Turning Point magazines. In the public sector, he has been President of the State of New York Mortgage Agency and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Business Services. He has also been a speechwriter for members of Congress, big city mayors, and leading businessmen.
Ford lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Shannan Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional story about the black elite. This story was a little hard to get into. It seemed like a little too much was going on.

[Monique · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dont know if this was truly the worst but I did not enjoy it, which is a dear shame after just coming off a disappointing horror read..Two unsatisfactoy books back to back is unheard of and oh so sad..Anyways I did not like this book, it tried so hard and lost me several times.It was choppy but drawn out, overly detailed but vague and pretentious and repetitive throughout to the point where you just wanted this illustrious group called the "Pride" to do something and not just spend time foreshadowing it, which was basically what the whole book was, plots of slow build up, minute details and then a conclusion..The story told the behind the scenes of some of the most successful players in Wall Street and the financial market, well educated and powerful men and women of color determined to show everyone they can and will break all stereotypes, barriers and records as they strive for the good life..A group of friends and occasional enemies meet up for a funeral when a plan is hatched to make them all even more rich and successful and the rest of the book tries to set the whole plot up and introduce finance to me which went way over my head and alot of meandering backstories that took away too much of my precious reading time..I did enjoy the aspects of affluent African American life and there were flashes of Stephen Carter brilliance there but alas not enough to recommend or even keep in my head for too long.I am moving on...please make this next read a good one!

[Nascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most people would be turned off by a book with multiple points of view and a slow moving plot, but I found this book charming. I don't know if it was all the financial jargon (Finance was my concentration in undergrad) or the lifestyles of the black rich and infamous, but I enjoyed this one.

There is a sequel and I'll be reading that one too.