My black friends never asked me how much money I made, or what school my children went to, or anything like that. They just said, "Come as you are."

Slavery was a web of relationships, and if people knew how thick the whole business was, they would not make fun of people like Harriet Tubman. They would understand how intelligent she was and how sharp.

If you have the material it will form itself as a kind of connective tissue.

First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.

Testosterone is a sex hormone, and I think it is the most social of hormones. The major social effect of testosterone is to orient us toward issues of sex and power. By the end of puberty testosterone levels in males are 8 to 10 times higher than in females, but decrease with age.

I put headlights in Ford vans. I still drive a Ford.

As a journalist, the details always tell the story.