Originally published: New York : Dial Press, 1961.

The discovery of what it means to be an American -- Princes and powers -- Fifth Avenue, uptown: A letter from Harlem -- East River, downtown: Postscript to A letter from Harlem -- A fly in the buttermilk -- Nobody knows my name: A letter from the South -- Faulkner and desegregation -- In search of a majority -- Notes for a hypothetical novel -- The male prison -- The Northern Protestant -- Alas, poor Richard -- The black boy looks at the white boy.

Essays discuss race relations, segregation, the role of the writer in society, and the work of Andre Gide, Richard Wright, and Norman Mailer.