Stephen L. Carter

prologueThe CouncilThe lawyer was nervous, and that was odd. His hands trembled;on the steering wheel, and that was odder still. He had learned in theI'lwar that there was no sin in being afiraid as long as the others never, iknew. He understood that courage was a discipline. As was confidence. In...

(one)The Rules About the RulesMY first lesson in integrity came the hard way. It was I960 or thereabouts and I was a first-grader at P.S. 129 in Harlem. The teacher had us all sitting in a circle, playing a game in which each child would take a turn donning a blindfold and then trying to identify...

When The Emperor of Ocean Park was published, Time Out declared: “Carter does for members of the contemporary black upper class what Henry James did for Washington Square society, taking us into their drawing rooms and laying their motives bare.” Now, with the same powers of observation, and...