The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them (published title)

In this innovative work of creative nonfiction, Ekow Eshun delves into the lives of five remarkable Black men: Ira Aldridge, a trailblazing 19th-century Shakespearean actor; Matthew Henson, the first man to reach the North Pole; Frantz Fanon, a revolutionary psychiatrist and political philosopher; Malcolm X, a prominent civil rights leader; and Justin Fashanu, the first professional footballer to publicly come out as gay. Eshun intertwines biography, fiction, historical record, and memoir to explore themes of race, estrangement, and the quest for belonging. Through empathetic storytelling, he illuminates both the adversities and triumphs these men encountered, positioning their narratives within the broader context of Black art, culture, history, and politics across the diaspora. citeturn0search4