Skip to Content
Poster for IPH Book Club – The Spook Who Sat by the Door

IPH Book Club – The Spook Who Sat by the Door

Dates with showtimes for IPH Book Club - The Spook Who Sat by the Door
  • Fri, Apr 24

 

Run Time: 90 min. Release Year: 2026

Book Club Discussion with Natiki Pressley & Doris Nomathandé Dixon on The Spook Who Sat by the Door.

FREE but registration is required.

A classic in the black literary tradition, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is both a satire on the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of Black militancy.  Dan Freeman, the “spook who sat by the door,” is enlisted in the CIA’s elitist espionage program. Upon mastering agency tactics, however, he drops out to train young Chicago Blacks as “Freedom Fighters” in this explosive, award-winning novel.

As a story of one man’s reaction to ruling-class hypocrisy, the book is autobiographical and personal. As a tale of a man’s reaction to oppression, it is universal.

Sam Greenlee (1930-2014) was a highly acclaimed, internationally known poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and teacher. A former U.S. Information Agency Foreign Service officer, he is the author of Baghdad Blues and three collections of poetry.

powered by Filmbot