For Ishmael Reed, Barack Obama, like Michelangeloâs St. Anthony, is a tormented man, haunted by modern reincarnations of the demonic spirits used to break slaves. These were the âNigger Breakersââmen like Edward Covey, who was handed the job of breaking Frederick Douglass. âIsnât it ironic,â writes Reed: âA media that scolded the Jim Crow South in the 1960s now finds itself hosting the bird.â In this collection, which includes several unpublished essays, Ishmael Reed brings to bear his grasp of the four-centuries-long African-American experience as he turns his penetrating gaze on Barack Obamaâs election and first year in powerâestablishing himself as the conscience of a country that was once moved by Martin Luther Kingâs dream.