"In my opinion James Purdy is the most underrated writer in American literature, probably because he was gay. His books are heart wrenching, brutal and sometimes flat-out mean-spirited but they are also incredibly beautiful and endlessly poetic. I'm not all that fond of books that make me cry but in Purdy's case, I don't mind."

"By now, most everyone knows how revolutionary this book was, paving the way for a new genre of writing. But again, it’s the details that get to me (specifically of Nancy Clutter’s diary). It’s one of the most gruesomely human books I have ever read. Its contributions to literature are immeasurable; the world is better because it was written."

"I began my career studying, and too often admiring, activists who demanded black (male) power over black communities, including over black women, whom they placed on pedestals and under their feet. Black feminist literature, including these anthologies, helps us recognize black women ‘as human, levelly human,’ as the Combahee River Collective demanded to be seen in 1977."