Xavier Richard Wright's debut novel chronicles his troubled upbringing and the confusion he experienced dealing with it long before he is mature enough to do so. Beginning life on the edge of death due to a dramatically low birth weight, Wright is subsequently raised in a family with an abusive, alcoholic father, schizophrenic mother, and four siblings, none of whom have time to devote to him. He agonizes over being unable to get anyone's attention-or acceptance. As he grows older he spends time at three different high schools, playing various varsity sports, before eventually dropping out. He commits crimes, deals and uses drugs, experiences homelessness, runs with gangs, and sings and dances in musicals as he earns his diploma in night school and is finally accepted into a private liberal arts college. An autobiographical tour de force full of bracing honesty, How I Became the Most Hated Man in America: Prelude to the Most Hated Man in America is a stunning portrayal of the American dream-and the American nightmare.