The Hidden Wound is an autobiographical meditation which also serves as an apologia. Berry attempts to justify his recent retreat to a Kentucky farm, where, having fled the life of an urban nomad, he has attempted to come to grips with both his and the nation's past. The "hidden wound" of the book's title is racism, and Berry's study of it is refreshingly free from the sloganeering which surrounds that issue today.

Berry grew up on a farm in Kentucky, and his childhood memories are rich with his friendship to two blacks, the hired man Nick, only one generation removed from the overseer's lash, and his wife, "Aunt Georgie," only one generation removed from "massa's" nocturnal lusts. Only with the awakening reflection brought on by his manhood has Berry come to understand how fully his family covertly exploited the poor blacks, whose bondage of poverty differed only in...