In “perfect tones and full of timbre” (Kirkus Reviews), novelist, playwright, and essayist Darryl Pinckney explores issues of racial, sexual, and cultural identity in contemporary America. His semi-autobiographical novel High Cotton tells an irreverent and ironic story of growing up black and upper-middle-class in the 1960s. The author of two collections of essays about African-American literature, he is also a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, Slate, and The Nation, among other publications. In Blackballed—a fusion of memoir, historical study, and social analysis—Pinckney examines 150 years of black participation in the U.S. electoral process. 

Syndicated columnist and member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board, Clarence Page is a fixture in more than 150 newspapers. Since joining the Tribune in 1969, he has tackled many of the most pressing and complicated issues of our time.  Among his journalistic accolades are the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Page is also a frequent contributor to The McLaughlin Group, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and the Chris Matthews Show. Culture Worrier is an archive of his most insightful and influential essays.