The publication of The African in Me marks the debut of Howard Gordon, a promising new American writer. Gordon's stories, set mainly in the author's native upstate New York, are written with intense emotion and a perceptive eye for human interaction. Confronted with realities that do not conform to the mythology of the American Dream, Gordon's characters seek refuge in a world of fantasy and memory. For the young narrator of "After Dreaming of President Johnson," comic book superheroes provide an imaginary haven from McCarthy-era America. In "The Green Monkey," a college student struggles with what he considers to be institutionally imposed racism, not only at school but within the tighter circle of his family's experiences. Well-crafted and full of power, Howard Gordon's stories bridge the fiction of our own expectations with the vivid realities of daily life.