Thomson, James: The City of Dreadful Night

Entre Ríos Books, paperback

Publication Date: April 18, 2023

Publisher Marketing: The City of Dreadful Night was first published as a serial in the National Reformer in 1874 and then in book form in 1880. Its author, James Thomson, was known primarily for his essays, literary bit work, and associations with freethinkers and radicals- and never found the larger readership he worked hard to gain. Poverty, insomnia, and alcoholism lead to his early death at forty-seven. Now regarded as a cult classic and refutation of Victorian exceptionalism, The City of Dreadful Night is a journey through the new urban landscape created by industrialization. In social isolation and economic exploitation, the soul despairs, while bleak Darwinism has replaced faith and the charlatans hawking an afterlife.Our edition features illustrations by Seattle artist Shannon Cleere on the housing and mental health crisis in Seattle, as well as an afterward by Tacoma poet Robert Lashley. Nearly 150 years later, the city, both imagined by Thomson and lived in our late-Capitalism experience, remains the same: vividly isolating and unjust for the poor.