Fun with a purpose. Crosswords for radicals—and everyone else.
Black Blocks, White Squares presents fifty-one themed crossword puzzles featuring radical ideas, history, and movements. Ranging from slightly to substantially challenging, they are built around noteworthy quotations, invoke notable thinkers and books, or allude to key words and concepts. Some of the puzzles use wordplay or grid art to illustrate important ideas or events, exploring a range of orientations and activities in contemporary political activism.
Leonard Williams has created puzzles for major newspapers and crossword sites that both gratify and enlighten puzzlers. Each one is constructed according to the prevailing standards of American-style crosswords. You won’t need a political science degree to solve these grids, but you’ll probably learn something new. The book includes solutions as well as “Constructor’s Notes” explaining the ideas behind each puzzle. A perfect gift and conversation starter!
Praise for Black Blocks, White Squares
"Black Blocks, White Squares . . . combines wit and fun with political potency. Beautifully designed and carried out, Leonard Williams offers a series of puzzles that can both educate and entertain about the systems of domination that abide in an imperialist world.”
—Benjamin Tausig, editor, American Values Club Crosswords
"Leonard Williams adheres to standard crossword conventions but incorporates content solvers won't encounter in puzzles published in the mainstream media. His themes include intersectionality, mutual aid, and social ecology."
—Raymond Simon, editor of Games World of Puzzles Magazine
Leonard Williams is professor emeritus of political science at Manchester University, Indiana. His crosswords have appeared in such venues as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Andrews McMeel Universal, Fireball Crosswords, and GAMES Magazine.
