Photo: Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images (1970)
Sample of authors
Himes, Chester
Chester Bomar Himes was among the foremost Afro-American authors, especially in terms of the way he wrote about racism in America in all its guises. He caused a great deal of attention as an author of crime fiction in France in the 1950s. However, his stories about the lives of blacks and Latinos living in urban ghettos were not beginning to be discussed seriously in the United States until...
Literary figures
Lew Archer
Gender: Male
He began his careers within the police, but he was too honest for his job, so he became a private investigator in Los Angeles instead. Ross Macdonald’s sympathetic, intelligent and sensitive protagonist, Lew Archer, is one of the best-known characters within the hard-boiled crime genre. He often helps young people that have got into trouble, and he engages in cultural activities in his spare time.