INVISIBLE

Abstract

One day last January, I pulled my bicycle out of the garage and pedaled for the nearest Barnes and Noble. I was looking for a new book by Philip Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, already praised in The New Yorker and elsewhere. I suppose all shoppers instinctively understand that the managers of bookstores organize their inventory in a strict hierarchy. Just inside the front door I encountered the bargain bins. Passing through a second door, I squarely confronted the first display table, exhibiting the hot new books, including novels by Nevada Barr and John Grisham.