Synopsis: "The title is a reference to the protagonist, expatriate black writer Max Reddick, who has achieved success in the white literary world as a black writer. 'All you ever want to do is remind me I am black. But, goddamn it, I also am.' The book centers on Reddick's discovery, through a box of inherited papers, of something called the King Alfred Plan, a government plan to intern and destroy America's black population. King Alfred is a tightly held secret, and the quandary of what next? moves the book along." (Source: Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR CodeSwitch)