20th-century addiction adversity african-american african-american-experience african-american-literature africanamericans alienation ambition america american american-author american-culture american-dream american-history american-literature american-society amhist anthropology architecture assimilation belonging bestseller betrayal bildungsroman biography black-culture black-experience black-identity blindness boston brotherhood building challenges character-driven character-study civil-rights civil-rights-movement class coming-of-age community compassion conflict conformity construction craftsmanship creativity culture dedication design determination discrimination disillusionment domestic-life domesticity double-consciousness dreams dysfunctional dysfunctional-family education equality ethnicity ethnicrelations existentialism family family-dynamics fiction freedom friendship general harlem harlem-renaissance historic-preservation historical history home home-building home-improvement home-ownership home-renovation homelessness homeownership hope house housing housing-crisis housing-market identity identity-crisis individualism individuality inequality injustice inspiration interior-design introspection investigative-journalism investigative-reporting invisibility invisible invisible-man isolation jazz journalism kidder literary-journalism loss love massachusetts memoir mental-health mental-illness modernism narrative narrative-nonfiction new-england non-fiction nonfiction nonfiction-bestseller nonfiction-book novel oppression perseverance personal-freedom personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative personal-narratives personal-struggle philosophy politicalaspects politics poverty power power-dynamics prejudice preservation protagonist protest psychology pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author race-relations race/class/gender raceawareness raceidentity racerelations racism ralph-ellison real-estate recovery redemption reflection relationship relationships religiousaspects renovation resilience restoration rural rural-life secrets segregation self-discovery small-town social-class social-commentary social-inequality social-injustice social-issues social-justice socialaspects socialscience socialsciences societal-norms society sociology southern-united-states stereotypes storytelling struggle suburban-life success surrealism survival symbolism tracy tragedy transformation triumph true-story underground unitedstates urban-development urban-planning white-supremacy writing