The civil rights movement of the 1960s inspired in many white Americans a desire to learn more about black society and culture, about what Du Bois termed life "within the Veil." In response to popular demand, American publishing companies aggressively sought out and presented the works of black writers. Rarely if ever before in U.S. history had Afro-American authors found the mainstream literary establishment so receptive to their autobiographies, poetry, and fiction. Among the major beneficiaries of this cultural awakening were not only promising young novelists like John Wideman, Ishmael Reed, Alice Walker, Ernest J. Gaines, and Carlene H. Polite but also writers from an earlier generation who, through lack of encouragement, opportunity, or inclination, had not previously broken into print. One notable member of this latter group is Robert Deane Pharr.

Pharr's journey to literary notoriety has followed an unusual and circuitous route--as one reviewer commented...