When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute.

There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston, probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country?

Racism is always there underneath, but usually it is exploited in these times of economic crisis, and it's hard to find out when one slides into another.

For some reason, I seem to be bothered whenever I see acts of injustice and assaults on people's civil liberties. I imagine what I write in the future will follow in that vein. Whether it's fiction or non-fiction.

After working as a journalist I went to a writing program at Johns Hopkins. It was interesting because it was neither journalistic nor historical, but it emphasized writing style, and afterwards I was asked to write my first book.

It is very difficult to hang onto the relics of history.

Whatever is not commonly seen is condemned as alien.