5 Comments
User's avatar
Marcella Lesher's avatar

Truly wonderful commentary. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Robert Boyd Skipper's avatar

Thank you, Marcella. I missed you at the book group.

Expand full comment
Peter Van Dusen's avatar

Hi, Robert! Thank you for this. In the late seventies, in an attempt to gain some insight into the black experience, I read a spate of books—The Outsider, Native Son, Soul On Ice and the Autobiography of Malcom X. Maybe others I’ve forgotten. In any case, I have read very little related literature since then. I have not read Beloved, nor The Color Purple. All of which is just to say thank you for putting this on my “radar screen” again.

Expand full comment
Robert Boyd Skipper's avatar

Thank you. Since the Color Purple and Beloved were both published in the '80s, they would not have been part of that cluster of books. So you're excused. I just wish I had started as early as you did.

Expand full comment
Peter Van Dusen's avatar

Hah--yes, but then I stopped!

Expand full comment