*Dancing in the Dark

*Dancing in the Dark by Caryl Phillips Knopf, September 2005 $23.95, ISBN 1-400-04396-4

In this follow-up to his award-winning novel A Distant Shore, Caryl Phillips shows once again the depth of insight into personal and societal complexities that makes him one of the greatest novelists of our time. In this work of historical fiction, Phillips condenses the little-known story of Bert Williams (1874-1922), a Bahamian immigrant who became the first black entertainer in the United States to reach the highest levels of fame and fortune. The author portrays a man whose claim to fame was arguably a mockery of his own existence and that of his race. In Phillips's hands, Williams's story …