Author Guide · Literary Fiction
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In 1990 Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for Fiction for Middle Passage, the first African-American man to win it since Ralph Ellison in 1953. He had spent about six years on the novel under the working title Rutherford’s Travels. Born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1948, he was a professional cartoonist at seventeen, took a PhD in philosophy, studied fiction with John Gardner and taught at the University of Washington in Seattle from 1976 until 2009. His novels put slaves, sailors and civil rights workers in front of the oldest philosophical questions. This guide covers his 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1974–2018 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Charles Johnson’s best-known book is Middle Passage (1990), which won the National Book Award for Fiction. His other key novels are Faith and the Good Thing (1974), Oxherding Tale (1982) and Dreamer (1998), about Martin Luther King Jr. Start with Middle Passage; the list below shows where the novels, the story collections and the essays on Buddhism and writing fit.
Where to Start with Charles Johnson
If you want his defining novel
→ Middle Passage (1990) — a freed man stows away on a slave ship in 1830.
If you want the book he built it on
→ Oxherding Tale (1982) — his “comic, philosophical slave narrative”.
If you want the civil rights era
→ Dreamer (1998) — the last years of Martin Luther King Jr..
If you want to write yourself
→ Night Hawks (2018) — his craft book, from decades of teaching.
11 Charles Johnson Books, in Order
Faith and the Good Thing
Faith Cross, a young Black woman from the rural South, leaves for Chicago after her dying mother tells her to find the “Good Thing”. On the way she consults a swamp witch with one green eye and one yellow eye, who talks like a philosopher. Johnson wrote it under the guidance of John Gardner; the Washington Post Book World called it “a brilliant first novel”.
Oxherding Tale
On a plantation, the owner and his slave George Hawkins swap wives for a night, and Andrew Hawkins is born. Raised in the slave quarters and educated by an eccentric tutor in Eastern mysticism, socialism and Western philosophy, Andrew escapes, passes as white and is hunted by a telepathic bounty hunter, the Soulcatcher. Johnson called it “a modern, comic, philosophical slave narrative”, modelled on the Zen Ten Oxherding Pictures; it won Washington State’s Governor’s Award in 1983.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Stories that mix African-American history with magic. In the title story an old sorcerer, a former slave in South Carolina, tries to pass his gift to a young man born free who has become too rational to receive it. The collection was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Being and Race
A study of Black American fiction since 1970, which began as his PhD dissertation in philosophy at Stony Brook and was published by Indiana University Press. Johnson argues for fiction that works through ideas rather than sociological clichés, partly in answer to the way critics had read his own novels.
Middle Passage
New Orleans, 1830: Rutherford Calhoun, a freed slave, petty thief and liar, stows away on the Republic to escape his debts and a marriage to the schoolteacher Isadora Bailey. The ship is an illegal slaver bound for Africa, where Captain Ebenezer Falcon takes on members of the Allmuseri tribe and a crate he says holds their god. It won the 1990 National Book Award for Fiction; Pegasus Theatre in Chicago staged an adaptation, Rutherford’s Travels, in 2016.
Dreamer
Chicago, summer 1966, during Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign in the city. A man named Chaym Smith, who looks almost exactly like King, offers to stand in for him in dangerous places, and King asks friends to take Smith to a safe house and teach him the Movement. The novel follows King in the last stretch of his life, and the two men’s bond does not resolve neatly.
Soulcatcher and Other Stories
Twelve stories about slavery in America, first written for Africans in America (1998), the companion book to the PBS series. They use monologues, letters, diary entries and omniscient narration to tell slavery from many points of view.
Turning the Wheel
Essays on Buddhist practice, race and the writing life, published by Scribner. Johnson has practised Buddhism since about 1980; Library Journal called the book “an uncommon and useful overview of black American involvement in Buddhism”.
Dr. King’s Refrigerator
Eight stories, published by Scribner. In the title story a young Martin Luther King Jr., raiding the fridge for a midnight snack, has a vision of how much of the world went into the food on its shelves. The others include “Kwoon”, “Executive Decision” and “The Queen and the Philosopher”.
The Way of the Writer
A writing manual drawn from his answers to E. Ethelbert Miller’s questions for The Words and Wisdom of Charles Johnson (2015), with exercises and essays on technique from more than thirty years of teaching. It includes his apprenticeship to John Gardner, whose prose he copied out by hand, and the long rewriting of Middle Passage.
Night Hawks
Twelve stories written over twelve years, ranging from realism to light science fiction and myth. In “The Weave” two people rob a Seattle hair salon of its human hair; in “The Cynics” Plato is challenged by the Cynic philosophers; in “Guinea Pig” a student who signs up for medical trials swaps bodies with a Rottweiler.
In What Order to Read Charles Johnson
His novels stand alone, but they speak to each other. Oxherding Tale and Middle Passage are both journeys out of slavery told by a clever, unreliable young man. Reading the three early novels in publication order shows the method getting sharper.
Most readers start with Middle Passage, which is the most tightly plotted. If you like it, go back to Oxherding Tale, then Dreamer. The story collections and essays can be read at any point.
A reading path
1. Middle Passage (1990)
2. Oxherding Tale (1982)
3. Dreamer (1998)
4. Soulcatcher and Other Stories (2001)
5. Turning the Wheel (2003)
Everything Else Charles Johnson Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 12 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Cartoon collections
3
3 books · 1970–2022
- 1970Black Humorhis first book, a cartoon collection
- 1972Half-Past Nation Timea second cartoon collection
- 2022All Your Racial Problems Will Soon EndThe Cartoons of Charles Johnson
Collaborations, essays and later books
9
9 books · 1997–2020
- 1997Black Men Speakingwith John McCluskey Jr.
- 1998Africans in Americacompanion to the PBS series, with Patricia Smith
- 2000King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.with Bob Adelman
- 2010Philosophy: An Innovative Introductiona textbook, with Michael Boylan
- 2013The Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder: Bending Timefor children, with his daughter Elisheba Johnson
- 2014Taming the OxBuddhist stories and reflections on politics, race and culture
- 2015The Words and Wisdom of Charles Johnsonanswers to E. Ethelbert Miller’s questions
- 2020Grand: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Lifeshort non-fiction
- 2020Papa Chuck’s Twisted Talesstories
The years · 1948–2022
Quick facts about Charles Johnson
- Known for
- Charles Johnson is known for philosophical novels about slavery and Black American history, above all Middle Passage, which won the 1990 National Book Award for Fiction.
- 1948
- Born in Evanston, Illinois
- 1974
- First novel, Faith and the Good Thing
- 1990
- Middle Passage
- 1998
- MacArthur Fellowship
- 2009
- Retires from the University of Washington
- 2022
- His cartoons collected
- Born
- 23 April 1948, Evanston, Illinois
- Education
- Southern Illinois University (journalism, philosophy); PhD in philosophy, Stony Brook, 1988
- Taught
- University of Washington, Seattle, 1976–2009
- Prizes
- National Book Award for Fiction (1990); MacArthur Fellowship (1998)
- Before fiction
- Cartoonist from 1965; created the PBS drawing series Charlie’s Pad (1970)
- Practice
- Buddhist since about 1980, Soto Zen vows in 2007; martial artist since 1967
The red mark is 1990: Middle Passage, which won the National Book Award for Fiction.
How Charles Johnson Writes: Philosophy in Adventure Stories
Johnson trained as a philosopher, and he calls his novels philosophical fiction. The plots are adventure plots, a sea voyage, an escape, a manhunt, but the people in them are, in his words, “seekers, questers”. Oxherding Tale is built on the Zen Ten Oxherding Pictures, and Middle Passage turns the question of who owns a person into a question about what a self is.
He mixes accurate history with parable and the fantastic. The slave ship’s cargo includes a captured god, the bounty hunter in Oxherding Tale reads minds, and Rutherford Calhoun tells his story in a digressive, comic first person. Both Oxherding Tale and Middle Passage are narrated by a clever, morally compromised young man who is changed by what he sees.
He revises at length. His apprenticeship to John Gardner included copying a chapter of Gardner’s prose by hand to learn its rhythm, and he has said the first draft of Middle Passage came “too quickly, in two years”, so he spent the last four years rewriting it. He was a cartoonist before he was a novelist, and he illustrated his children’s book The Adventures of Emery Jones (2013) himself.
Frequently asked questions about Charles Johnson’s books
How many books has Charles Johnson written?
More than twenty. This page covers his 11 key books, from Faith and the Good Thing (1974) to Night Hawks (2018), and lists 12 more: three cartoon collections and nine collaborations and later books. By the count in a 2021 interview, Grand (2020) was his 25th book.
What are Charles Johnson’s books in order?
Faith and the Good Thing (1974), Oxherding Tale (1982), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1986), Being and Race (1988), Middle Passage (1990), Dreamer (1998), Soulcatcher and Other Stories (2001), Turning the Wheel (2003), Dr. King’s Refrigerator (2005), The Way of the Writer (2016) and Night Hawks (2018).
Where should I start with Charles Johnson?
With Middle Passage (1990), his most tightly plotted novel: a freed slave stows away on an illegal slave ship in 1830. If you like it, read Oxherding Tale next.
What is Charles Johnson’s most famous book?
Middle Passage, which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1990. He was the first African-American man to win the fiction award since Ralph Ellison won it for Invisible Man in 1953.
What is Middle Passage about?
Rutherford Calhoun, a freed slave in New Orleans in 1830, stows away on the Republic to escape his creditor and an arranged marriage, and finds himself on a slave ship bound for Africa. The captives, members of the Allmuseri tribe, later take over the ship.
Has Middle Passage been adapted?
Not for the screen. John Singleton was linked to a film in the late 1990s, but none was made. On stage, Pegasus Theatre in Chicago staged Rutherford’s Travels in 2016, and Lifeline Theatre opened another adaptation in February 2020 that closed early in the pandemic. A graphic novel adaptation has been announced.
What does the title Oxherding Tale mean?
It refers to the Zen Ten Oxherding Pictures, a sequence of images of a herdsman searching for an ox that stands for the search for the self. Johnson used it as the frame for what he called “a modern, comic, philosophical slave narrative”.
Is Charles Johnson a Buddhist?
Yes. He has practised Buddhism since about 1980 and took formal Soto Zen vows in 2007. He writes about it in Turning the Wheel (2003) and Taming the Ox (2014).
Was Charles Johnson a cartoonist?
Yes, before he wrote novels. He published cartoons professionally from 1965, collected them in Black Humor (1970) and Half-Past Nation Time (1972), and created a PBS drawing series, Charlie’s Pad, in 1970. All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End (2022) collects the cartoons.
Footnotes
- Charles R. Johnson — Wikipedia
- Middle Passage (novel) — Wikipedia
- Johnson, Charles (Richard) 1948- — Encyclopedia.com
- The Way of the Writer — University of Washington News, 2016
- Night Hawks — University of Washington News, 2018
- Charles Johnson on editing, new works and Middle Passage — South Seattle Emerald, 2021
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women.”
— Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990), the first line
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