A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid

by Percival Everett, James R. Kincaid

Praise for Percival “If Percival Everett isn’t already a household name, it’s because people are more interested in politics than truth.”—Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Washington Square Ensemble “Everett’s talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison . . .”— Publishers Weekly “I think Percival Everett is a genius. I’ve been a fan since his first novel. He continues to amaze me with each novel—as if he likes making 90-degree turns to see what’s around the corner, and then over the edge . . . He’s a brilliant writer and so damn smart I envy him.”—Terry McMillan, author of Mama A fictitious and satirical chronicle of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond’s desire to pen a history of African-Americans—his and his aides’ belief being that he has done as much, or more, than any American to shape that history. An epistolary novel, The History follows the letters of loose cannon Congressional office workers, insane interns at a large New York publishing house and disturbed publishing executives, along with homicidal rival editors, kindly family friends, and an aspiring author named Septic. Strom Thurmond appears charming and open, mad and sure of his place in American history. Percival Everett is the author of 15 works of fiction, among them Glyph , Watershed and Frenzy . His most recent novel, Erasure , won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and did little to earn him friends. James Kincaid is an English professor at the University of Southern California and has written seven books in literary theory and cultural studies. These books and Kincaid himself have gradually lost their moorings in the academic world, so there was nothing left for him to do but to adopt the guise of fiction writer. Writing about madness comes easy to him.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Politics, Historical Fiction, Literature, African American, 21st Century

300 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Percival L. Everett (born 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.

There might not be a more fertile mind in American fiction today than Everett’s. In 22 years, he has written 19 books, including a farcical Western, a savage satire of the publishing industry, a children’s story spoofing counting books, retellings of the Greek myths of Medea and Dionysus, and a philosophical tract narrated by a four-year-old.

The Washington Post has called Everett “one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists.” And according to The Boston Globe, “He’s literature’s NASCAR champion, going flat out, narrowly avoiding one seemingly inevitable crash only to steer straight for the next.”

Everett, who teaches courses in creative writing, American studies and critical theory, says he writes about what interests him, which explains his prolific output and the range of subjects he has tackled. He also describes himself as a demanding teacher who learns from his students as much as they learn from him.

Everett’s writing has earned him the PEN USA 2006 Literary Award (for his 2005 novel, Wounded), the Academy Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (for his 2001 novel, Erasure), the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (for his 1996 story collection, Big Picture) and the New American Writing Award (for his 1990 novel, Zulus). He has served as a judge for, among others, the 1997 National Book Award for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Satire is very hard to pull off effectively, but these authors brilliantly lampoon both the ingrained racism of former US Senator Strom Thurmond and the publishing business. In this epistolary novel, Percival Everett and James Kincaid are authors and English professors who are hired by a publisher to write a history of colored people as envisioned by Thurmond. However, neither Thurmond nor his supercilious assistant seems to have a grip on the contents or structure of this book. The circle of correspondents includes several publishers, the sister of one of the publishers and a first time author. The correspondence devolves into a rondelay of confusion, flirtation and threats. I had never heard of Kincaid, but Everett is a genius and the narration by James Fouhey of the audiobook was wonderful.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

A working knowledge of the life of ex-senator Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) is not required to revel in this epistolary comedy. Thurmond was a racist and bigoted senator who in a century of existence perpetrated more than the average level of hypocritical capriciousness on the African-American people. This collaborative novel (Everett’s fingerprints more prominent) takes the satirical conceit of a notorious racist writing a racist history, and works a series of madcap correspondences around the proposition. Spoofs and lampoons of publishing interns and editors and the bizarre and disturbing relationships they inhabit create the humour in this rambunctious novel. An excellent concept with devastating satirical intentions descends into silliness quite quickly, as with other Everett novels, i.e. American Desert or Glyph. A fun-filled curio all the same and twice as energetic as most collaborative side-projects.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published February 3, 2026.

The title - 6 stars

The book - 4 stars

This is the reissue of a book originally published in 2004, an epistolary novel between the writers in the title and then a fictional book editor and his assistant and an assistant to/intern for the famously racist Senator from South Carolina Strom Thurmond. Then add one assistant’s sister, an aspiring writer named Septic and brief appearances by the Senator himself. And start with the premise that Thurmond’s intern believes that Thurmond believes that Thurmond has done as much as anyone to shape African American history which, well, I guess if you look at it a CERTAIN way is not….WRONG?!?! And is Everett the black one?

This is as witty as one would expect. It brings to mind a parody I saw in “George” magazine where there was a meeting of Republicans running for President and Strom Thurmond says to Colin Powell, “I thought I told you to stay with the car.” Only writ large. Plus the writers send up publishing and the relationships that members of Congress have with their staffers. You probably know now whether you are going to think this is clever or not, and I thought the writers did a fine job…I’m glad it’s getting another push in light of the success of JAMES.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any rational person, I’m generally averse to the epistolary form. Plainly, I went into this with low expectations (can’t say the co-authoring inspired much hope). How nice then to come away goofily plussed.

Like MJ mentions in his review, Strom-formation is not required for entry. He’s a straw dog, a frame device kicked quickly to the curb as the neuroses of the principal players begin effecting into what this novel is really about. Now, to ME, to my purpose, it’s an exposition of just how hard it is to find real connection in life. The ad hoc family the half dozen main characters form is a genuinely lovely process to watch unfold in sequence (a genesis midwifed into creation by the inestimable Barton Wilkes). That mad hatter and Juniper are such vivid, substant creations with a shared erring toward whimsy that I already miss them.

Sure, this novel is focused on a person—but who? Just like life outside the pages, treeing that raccoon is complicated by perspective, our obfuscating self-preservation, vanity, and manifold surface selves we assume as buffers to cushion the vulnerability that true communication requires.

We’re all so busily shielding our hearts that we fail to note their atrophying. Be lions. What the fuck can we really lose in trying?

[Tom Andes · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's impressive to me that Everett and Kincaid manage to stretch out a single joke for 316 pages -- and somehow, they do, though of course they accomplish this by telling lots of little jokes, especially on themselves ("Academics tend to be impatient...but how many hours a week do you actually work, maybe 5?") Though once or twice, I found myself bogging down in some of the letters (it's an epistolary novel), and the end does hit you all at once, I haven't laughed as hard or as often while reading a novel in quite some time, probably since reading another one of Everett's, "Erasure."

[Stephan Benzkofer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nobody is safe from ridicule in this over-the-top satire, including Percival Everett, who appears as himself, and co-author James Kincaid. Oddly, Strom Thurmond comes away the most unscathed — at least considering what a vile human he actually was because surprisingly little of this epistolary novel is about him. It dwells mainly with the bizarre rantings, relationships, interactions, and unsettling behavior of the senator's aide and two editors at a publishing house. This definitely shouldn't be your first Everett book or even your tenth.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm about 60 pages in and laughing hysterically. I heart the Profs. Everett and Kincaid.

Alright, I am about 75 pages into the book and I think I have started hemorraging internally, perhaps a rupture of some godforsaken organ, due to my inability to stop laughing.

Oh holy hell.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to say about this book. It’s weird, for one thing. It’s meant to be absurd, sarcastic, and humorous, but, even so, I’ll call it weird. Bordering on uncomfortably weird, at times. Like uncanny valley weird. The characters just don’t act like real humans, but only slightly. So it’s just a little off, and thus a little off putting.

The book was not what I expected based on the title and description. I thought it would be the actual (albeit fictional) book written by Strom Thurmond, but instead it’s a collection of correspondence among the characters who were working on the project to put together such a book. Most of the book had nothing at all to even do with the topic. It was just a silly show case of the funny and, I’ll say it again, weird relationships these people built.

I wanted to read more from Percival Everett after just recently finishing my first Everett novel, I’m Not Sidney Poitier. Both books definitely share a surreal and absurdist tone. It is definitely well written and engaging. Although the “plot” did drag somewhat. It felt like one big inside joke between the two authors. I imagine them writing successively more ridiculous “letters” to each other to lampoon each other and crack each other up. It was fun but also went on too long, I felt.

All the ridiculousness aside, when the book did take a serious tone (which was very infrequently) it did make me think. And I’m still thinking about what the book says about racism against blacks. I’ve been thinking about how the book raises questions about the idea of supposedly non-racist north and non-racist abolitionists as compared to the stereotypically racist south and southerners. The book, through the voice of Strom Thurmond, argues that the north isn’t much better than the south in terms of racism, but we just look at each side differently.

To wit:

“So, this whole project is an attempt to set the record straight, a forum for you to say that the South isn’t as bad as it’s cracked up to be. Or maybe you’re about pointing out that the whole country is as racist as ever.”

“He [Strom Thurmond] is so much more than the labels slapped on him. Those who do that use him as an excuse, a person to hate so they won’t have to hate themselves.”

The book also has some comments about politics in general that I found intriguing, especially given that my career is in government.

“The politics I know always involved working as best you could to play a game whose rules were already there when you started. See what I mean? You always have to deal with what’s there, whatever it is. Usually what’s there is a tangle, some of which makes sense and some of which don’t. In the case of the African-American people, lots of what was there might have seemed unfair and cruel to anyone not trying to make things better inside the conditions we had.”

The above quote in particular is one of those that almost makes you sympathize with Thurmond, as if he was just a man trying to do his best with the circumstances. (I said ALMOST.) But what struck me most was the first part of that quote about having to work best you can in a system whose rules were already set up when you got there. This could literally have been the theme of my 2024 career. We had a lot of strife this year—a lot of explaining to people how things work and why they are the way they are, and a lot of trying to do the best we could in this system. So yeah it feels like a very appropriate comment to me.

The last quote I’ll share is one that felt really applicable to the person who will be our next president. Although this book was published way back in 2004, it feels like they could have been talking directly about him. Sadly.

“the leader made the observation that truly disgraceful behavior, so long as it is truly excessive, is usually rewarded. She said there were personality types who sensed this and lived their lives on that principle.”

When I first was exploring Everett’s catalog of books, I saw this one was co-written by fellow professor, James Kincaid. I looked into him and saw that two of his published books, and the apparent focus of his academic expertise, is in the history of pedophilia. Immediately that struck me as icky. Mind you, that’s 100% my gut reaction, not having read the books in question. But I couldn’t help feeling that someone who academically focused so much time on pedophilia might have a deep down personal interest himself? I fully admit this might not be fair, but again it’s my gut reaction.

Therefore when I read several references or allusions to pedophilia in this book I was both shocked and not shocked at the same time. It feels almost certain that those passages had to come from Kincaid and made me even more suspicious that he might be somewhat obsessed with the topic. It was icky, is all I can say, and I didn’t enjoy that at all.

Likewise, there is a lot of under the surface homosexuality that I think is purposely written to be uncomfortable and absurd. In 2024, twenty years after this was first published, those themes seem wildly out of date.

For keeping me engaged and making me think, this gets 4 stars.

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you, right off the top, the picture on the cover is worth the price of admission alone, but it, also, does say a lot about the book, itself. The story is told entirely from an exchange of letters from an assortment of characters involved in the tale. The hilarious premise is that an assistant to Strom Thurmond has come up with the idea of having a book written by Strom Thurmond about a history of African Americans that is favorable toward him. He needs someone to actually write the book, preferably a black writer, but, the problem is, anyone who is well known refuses to do it. He finally finds a lesser known writer, Percival Everett, who accepts. Everett then asks a fellow professor, James Kincaid, from his university to assist him. It's an exceptionally funny story in which Everett skewers everyone involved, including himself, and even manages to throw in a dig at Clarence Thomas toward the end of the book.

[Jibraun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would write a thorough review, but someone else wrote a note-perfect review one week ago -- and no need for me to reinvent the wheel. Go and read Rachel's review, I agree with all of it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'll just add that this seemed like an odd and sometimes unsuccessful homage to Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne.

3.5 stars.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had no idea what to expect as I began - probably assumed the book would poke fun or more seriously ridicule a real person's views on race (a perspective from a racist). Possibly an uncovering of a heart of gold underneath a journey of racism in earlier years. Which? It was billed as satire ...

Instead, it was 80% about unfiltered assistants of Senator Thurmond, copiously writing all of their thoughts and sharing them with fictitious managers, editors, idea people at Simon & Schuster. Most of the back and forth correspondence degenerated into sexual innuendo - probably a late adolescent level.

Didn't work for me.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novel to be a very strange book. It is written as an epistolary novel between a rogue staffer of Sen. Thurmond, editors at Simon & Schuster, contracted ghostwriters Everett & Kinkaid, and other assorted characters. Parts of the book are funny, but I was left with the distinct impression that its all an inside joke that I don't fully comprehend. I highly recommend reading Percival Everett (especially Erasure) but this book is only for Everett fans who want to complete reading his works.

[Anita Derouen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am struggling to figure out how I FEEL about this book. It’s giving Lolita-ish discomfort all the time. And yet I enjoyed it? Felt compelled to see it through? Feel that wee bit dirtier for reading it?

Just like actually reading a book that might actually be written by Strom Thurmond would make me feel, I suppose…

[Sandrine Pal · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you had told me that I would give less than four stars to a Percival Everett book, I would have laughed you right out of the room. And yet, here we are. This particular book didn't do it for me, probably in part due to the epistolary format. Also the fact that Everett "plays himself" in the book didn't really land for me. The satire of the publishing industry is effective a lot of the time, but I couldn't keep up with the absurdity of it all as the book unfolded. I was also bemused by the treatment of the Strom Thurmond character/figure, which seemed to veer from rightful indictment to a sort of resigned acceptance? (Read the previous sentence with the rising intonation of an indecisive freshman in a seminar course.) All told, this book didn't live up to its title and/or my fangirl appreciation for its author's other works.

[Devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn't hold my attention. I expected it to be funnier than it was.

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very unlikely funny book. It works

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this in 2004 and recommended it to many folks. they just looked at me like i wanted them to read a glenn beck tirade. their loss.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an epistolatory novel. The story is told in letters, memos, and transcripts with no linking narrative.

An aide to Senator Strom Thurman, Barton Wilkes, writes a letter to Simon and Schuster Publishing in New York. He says that the Senator is proposing to write "A History of the American People by Strom Thurmond" and asks if they are interested in publishing it. They eventually agree. Percival Everett, author of several well-respected novels, and James Kincaid, an English professor at USC who is a prominent literary critic, get hired to assist/ghostwrite the book. Everett is black. Kincaid is white. It is a hell of a premise.

The crazy premise spins out into great crazy stuff. The Senator's aide, Barton Wilkes, is a bizarre mixture of pompousness, shrewdness, total lack of appropriateness and crazy. The Simon and Schuster editor, Martin Snell, and his assistant, R. Juniper McCloud are both wildly insecure and each a little loony and odd in their own way. Everett and Kincaid try to be the adults in this kindergarten, but they each have their own foibles, including the need to be in charge.

The story spins around crazily. Wilkes keeps sending the professors documents which show how good the slaves had it. Wilkes eventually starts stalking Snell's sister. The Senator's book keeps changing its concept. Everyone is frantically trying to see how to make a buck from this crazy idea.

The Senator makes a few appearances. He comes off as a genial racist who is the calmest person in the whole story.

Everett and Kincaid have mastered the art of writing letters that reveal the writer. They parody business letters, academic memos, interoffice memos. Everyone writing the letters keeps veering off into weird oversharing and oddity. This is a wild story very cleverly told and Barton Wilkes, who is at the center of the whole mess, is a brilliant, original, mysterious, comic character. He is like a smarter, more ambitious and devious Ignatius J. Reilly.

Three things I noted as I laughed my way through this;

1. It was written in 2002. There are no emails in the book. There is one mention of the fact that Everett hasn't learn to email yet. 2002 was probably the last year you could credibly write an epistolatory novel with no emails.

2. In a fancy Washington restaurant, Justice Clarence Thomas drops by the table of Senator Thurmond and the senator tells a horrible Anita Hill joke. It was so shocking I laughed, but I swear it was only a laugh of surprise and not approval.

3. This is a pretty good summary by the senator of our current political world;

"Let me tell what the secret to politics is. It's got nothing to do with issues or even rights. It's got to do with people and what they believe. Not even what they think. Hell, they don't know what they think. But they know what they believe. The great thing about believes is that you can convince people they have them."

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a reissue of the original from 2004, Percival Everett and James Kincaid skewer everything from racism in America to academia and more personal quirks than I knew existed.

While the authors are well known now they were considerably less so in 2004 which may be why I hadn't read it before now. I admit I expected Thurmond to be more specifically lambasted but he largely serves as a representative for the worst racist impulses of the country, as well as a mouthpiece to point out some uncomfortable truths, albeit cloaked in his ugly mindset. I think of it more as an over-the-top reflection of the dysfunction this country has long been suffering, even before the moron-in-chief took office again.

These are told in emails, texts, and other such forms of documentation, so it takes a little effort (not too much) to keep the plot (such as it is) straight since many of the pieces of documentation will have you laughing and forgetting the bigger (surreal) picture.

I would recommend this to readers who might like to ponder our country's ills, from personal to political, while also laughing. I also think you can read it simply as entertainment, even though the message will still play a part in the humor.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Kristopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a book. What a fun, silly romp. What a format for a novel.

Facing a presidential election between two 80-year-olds, this book is remarkably prescient, for being 20 years old. Tucked inside this delightfully silly book are very clever examinations of the problem of having so many people of advanced age working in American government. It is also a commentary on racists and racist apologists in government and media, as well as a commentary on the publishing industry, and sexual harassment (which Senator Thurmond was notorious for). This is experimental literature at its finest. Laugh-out-loud funny all the way through.

[Stewart Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sort of an odd detour in Everett’s catalogue (and Kincaid’s, probably, but I don’t know his work), but it’s one of his funniest and I tore through it with a huge smile on my face. It takes its shots at the bastard Strom Thurmond, sure, but it’s much less about him than I expected, and it’s more of an absurd riff on the publishing industry and the authors themselves. It goes off the rails almost immediately and stays there until it’s done, and instead of making any real political statement, it feels like watching 2 friends taking the piss and following a ridiculous story to its ridiculous conclusion. I loved it, as I love everything with Everett’s name attached to it.

[Greyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat bizarrely constructed, A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid consists primarily of letters between the "authors", an aide from Strom's office, and an underling at Simon & Schuster. It's a bit madcap, as much so as Dr. No, but the stakes here (a book) low compared to the "nothing" of Dr. No (you know?)

Strom himself makes three brief appearances, each when the "authors" hunt him down for a meeting in his native South Carolina. One of these events happens at the very end, where the thesis is laid bare and we, mercifully, all get to go home.

File under "too clever by half," I think.

[Marian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2* is a bit generous. A few nice digs at and enjoyable satirical scenes with the senator from hell. But the scaffolding for these bits is the overwhelming bulk of the novel. The jabs at publishing house fecklessless and inanities are mildly entertaining (before they're overused). But the book consists largely of sophomoric gag lines and scenarios; hard to divine how Everett could have derived much pleasure from writing it. There's also a weird obsession with and essentially stigmatizing of queer men and gay sex. Was that meant to be a satire...of something? I hate-read most of it, waiting for some prime roasting of Thurmond, the few instances of which turned out to be meh.

[Travis Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not his best, and I love his work very, very much. Thurmond died in 2003; this book was published the year after. Now, almost twenty years later, the political humor just is no longer as timely. Racism is no longer the sole forte of Southerners, as Thurmond himself points out; racist red states occupy the heartland. The bulk of the book is letters between authors and publishers, very screwball, just a tad out of sync too. I'm reading through all of his books, having started with The Trees. This was a fun book, just not his best.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemed like it took me foreeeeever to finish this book and I almost DNFed it quite a few days in a row. Here’s the thing: it’s a super dark very quirky comedy and I think maybe you want to be in a good mood and a shall we say LESS DARK DREARY DANGEROUS political time to really enjoy a book like this. I think the general deep dark damper put on life by the rapist getting a second term just made my mood so low I struggled to feel the humor here. But I enjoyed the last third and particularly these versions of these author’s bios.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book I've read for school. Perhaps I'll come back some day and write a more detailed review, but in case I don't: I really liked this one! I wasn't expecting the three-way psychosexual gay drama and it delighted me to read. Plus, the satirical bits about Strom Thurmond and the particular kind of patronizing racism practiced by conservatives hit the mark. Loved the epistolary format as well.

Verdict: 4/5. Recommended to whoever it may concern.

[Karen Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I wish I had the vocabulary and wit of Percival Everett. I laughed out loud more to this book than usual. It’s basically a series of letters that tell a story when pieced together, and 90% of the letters are hilarious. The dialogue he gave to Strom Thurmond is the absolute best. Southern and pretty racist but funny at the same time?!? Yes, crazy. Black comedy. 👍🏻

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I’m being overly precise, probably more of a 3.75/5. The conceit should’ve gotten tedious very quickly (an inherent danger of epistolary novels), but the fact that it did not is testament to how absurd and funny this book is.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any writer skilled enough to actually deliver on this book's premise—for example, by convincingly portraying Strom Thurmond as the Old South's literary analogue to James Baldwin—wouldn't write this book and would just become James Baldwin instead. Still pretty fun though.

[TJ Garman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Everett and Kincaid sections are very entertaining and funny. I expected this to make up 85% of the book, unfortunately it was only about 15%. For some bizarre reason most of the book was filled with Juniper/Snell/Barton unfunny oddness.