The Color Purple

The Color Purple is an acclaimed epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, this collection of letters weaves an intricate mosaic of women joined by their love for each other, the men who abuse them, and the children they care for. In this, The Color Purple focuses on black female life in the American South during the 1930s, addressing the numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. The novel received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. Because of the explicit content, particularly in terms of violence, The Color Purple has been a frequent target of censors, appearing on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999.

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich first published The Color Purple in New York in 1982. First editions state “First Edition” on the copyright page along with “BCDE,” the publisher’s code.

In 1992, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published a hardcover Tenth Anniversary Edition of The Color Purple, which includes a new preface by the author.