{"description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Charles M. Blow\u2019s mother was a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, and a job plucking poultry at a factory near their segregated Louisiana town, where slavery's legacy felt close. When her philandering husband finally pushed her over the edge, she fired a pistol at his fleeing back, missing every shot, thanks to \u201clove that blurred her vision and bent the barrel.\u201d Charles was the baby of the family, fiercely attached to his \u201cdo-right\u201d mother. Until one day that divided his life into Before and After\u2014the day an older cousin took advantage of the young boy. The story of how Charles escaped that world to become one of America\u2019s most innovative and respected public figures is a stirring, redemptive journey that works its way into the deepest chambers of the heart."}, "subjects": ["African American journalists", "Journalists", "Biography", "African Americans", "Communication", "Journalists, biography", "Journalists, united states", "African americans, biography", "LGBTQ biography and memoir", "Lambda Literary Awards", "Lambda Literary Award Winner", "nyt:relationships=2014-10-12", "New York Times bestseller", "New York Times reviewed"], "key": "/works/OL19354307W", "title": "Fire Shut Up in My Bones", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL7487228A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "covers": [8467990], "links": [{"url": "http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/books/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones-by-charles-m-blow.html", "title": "New York Times review", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"url": "http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/books/review/charles-m-blows-fire-shut-up-in-my-bones.html", "title": "New York Times review", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "latest_revision": 10, "revision": 10, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2019-03-26T22:25:09.735935"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-05-21T02:01:44.225553"}}