A Man of Good Abilities

By Tony Parker

Book Overview

First published in 1967, A Man of Good Abilities was Tony Parker's fifth book, and told the story of 65 year-old 'Norman Edwards', a compulsive swindler-embezzler for his whole adult life, one punctuated by numerous ineffective terms of imprisonment. Using journals, letters, and interview transcripts Parker drew a finessing portrait of a man and a seemingly intractable problem that he posed to society.

'Tony Parker is a remarkably skilled and compassionate exponent of the documentary technique that he uses to illumine human character; with him, tape-recorded conversations are the stuff of art, not of mere photography.' New Society

'In his books the strength lies in the interpretive mind of the writer... He is a sociologist studying single cases in some depth and shows qualities of imagination shared by the historian and the biographer - a mixture of intelligence, sympathy and empathy.' TLS

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 057130432X
• ISBN13: 9780571304325
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: Faber Finds
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"