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Native Son
by Richard Wright

8220;Suppose you wake up some morning and find your sister dead? What would you think then?8221; Bigger Thomas, Wright8217;s protagonist, is asked early in the 1945 novel. 8220;Suppose those rats cut our veins at night when we sleep? Naw! Nothing like that ever bothers you! All you care about is your own pleasure! Even when the relief offers you a job you won8217;t take it till they threaten to cut off your food and starve you! Bigger, honest, you the most no-countest man I ever seen in my life!8221;

Six decades later, this book set in 1930s Chicago remains indispensable in understanding racism, deprivation and inner city dynamics.