Schemes, Dreams, and Some Thoughts on Poetry
The Difficult Lessons of Richard Wright's Native Son
Lately I've been thinking about Richard Wright's famous protest novel, Native Son (1940). The book is a page-turner like no other, and there is much to learn from it during this long season of exhibitionistic murders.
The Trouble in Baltimore, the Literature of Ann Petry
If you want to understand the mayhem in Baltimore that occurred after Freddie Gray's entirely preventable death, get a copy of Miss Muriel and Other Stories (1971) by Ann Petry and read "In Darkness and Confusion," a novella based on the Harlem race riot of 1943.