*In the process of bringing over old posts from previous sites, I've come across old reviews. They're not the same as the more recent ones, but I want to preserve them nevertheless. This was originally published on 1 June 2013.*

Against the prevailing wisdom, I continue to rely on experts to inform me, but when experts disagree, What's a person to think?'

Sally Mann is a photographer of some notoriety. She is also, it turns out, an amazingly good writer able to create word pictures every bit as nuanced and beguiling as her picture pictures. An interesting question is whether, had she not been a renowned photographer, we would ever have learned what a fine writer she is. Would she have been prompted to write her memoir had she not been invited to give the Massey Lectures in the History of American Civilization at Harvard?

The internet makes it all too easy to go hunting for the information that will make sense of a book or an author, and I am resolved not to do that. At least, not till I have finished this review. From that position of self-imposed ignorance, The Sellout is a brilliantly funny and cutting satire on race in America. Nothing is safe, noone immune, no taboo out of bounds. Sex, music, drugs, intellectualism, passivity, crime. ...

What a wonderful book. When it first came out and got lots of praise I stupidly decided that it was not for me, possibly because the praise tended to focus on lyrical nature writing and that is not something I enjoy. However, my friend Nicola Davies was adamant that I give it a shot. I did, and was entranced from the word go.