"In his
Blood on the Forge, William Attaway presents with skill the impact of industrial life on the simple black folk who fled the plantations of the South....[I]t will add...a new and better knowledge of American civilization. The reality that Attaway depicts is not beautiful, but it is none the less moving and human for that." –Richard Wright
"Spanning two areas and eras of Negro experience, those of the semi-feudal plantation and the industrial urban environment, Attaway's source material receives its dynamic movement from the clash of two modes of economic production. The characters are caught in the force of a struggle which, like the steel furnace, roars throughout its pages....Attaway has proven himself one of the most gifted Negro writers." –Ralph Ellison
"[
Blood on the Forge] is incredibly violent. . . There is a certain absolute vividness to what is being told here, it is brutality being made absolutely plain. . . Brilliant." –Marlon and Jake Read Dead People Podcast