Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22, wrote a story that is just being published this week by The Strand magazine. “Almost Like Christmas” centers on racism in the American south. Heller wrote the piece most likely in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In it a white man is stabbed and the prime suspect is a black man. Not an especially cheerful theme.
“Andrew Gulli, managing editor of the Strand,….., said: “Heller was to a large extent a guy who saw through hypocrisy, greed, and the backward nature of a mob better than most writers – so it’s no wonder that he turned his pen to a racist mob in a small southern town.” ”
See this article in The Guardian.
Shira S.