Morrison shows how much the themes of freedom and individualism, manhood and innocence, depended on the existence of a black population that was manifestly —and that came to serve white authors as embodiments of their own fears and desires. According to the , Morrison "reimagines and remaps the possibility of America." Her brilliant discussions of the "Africanist" presence in the fiction of Poe, Melville, Cather, and Hemingway leads to a dramatic reappraisal of the essential characteristics of our literary tradition. Written with the artistic vision that has earned the Nobel Prize-winning author a pre-eminent place in modern letters, is an invaluable read for avid Morrison admirers as well as students, critics, and scholars of American literature.