Invisible Man

The hero of this blistering, mightily successful first novel, like its author, is an American black man. From the bizarre events leading up to his expulsion from a Southern college to the climax when pent-up tensions erupt in a terrifying Harlem race riot, he describes his Candide-like adventures with a white-hot passion and intensity. It is a story told with enormous power and invention - the nightmare job in a paint factory, his disillusionment with the 'Brotherhood' and its policy of betrayal, the eviction of an old negro couple which starts his political career. This surely is among the few great American novels of post-war years.