John A. McCluskey, Jr., was born to John A. and Helen Harris McCluskey in Middletown, Ohio; his father was a truck driver. Middletown, an industrial town in southern Ohio, attracted a large number of Southern blacks before and during World War II to work in its factories. As a result, stories about black life in the South were plentiful as McCluskey was growing up. In high school, he was active in sports, especially football and track. In spite of his interest in athletics, McCluskey was a good student in academic subjects. Upon graduating from high school, he won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he also played football. He studied social relations at Harvard, receiving a B.A. cum laude in 1966, and took his first courses in creative writing there. After Harvard he went to Stanford University to study creative writing. He earned his M.A. in 1972. It...