Paperback. Pub the Date: September. 2007 Pages: 480 in Publisher: VintageEbury Gripping and furious Native Son follows Bigger Thomas a young black man who is trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago. Unwittingly involved in a wealthy woman's death . he is hunted relentlessly. baited by prejudiced officials. charged with murder and driven to acknowledge a strange pride in his crime. Native Son shocked readers on its first publication in 1940 and went on to make Richard Wright the first bestselling black writer in America.