Collected here are several stories by Charles W. Chesnutt. The recurring theme of these stories is "you can't judge a book by its cover." Or, more applicable, you can't judge a man by the color of his skin.

His stories exist in a post-bellum America (an America contemporary to Chesnutt), and feature "smart" white people being outwitted by "dumb" black people.

While the dialogue written as spoken is hard to follow, I found the stories to otherwise be enjoyable.

This book would be of interest to people studying black American literature, post-bellum racial ties, or even American superstitions. ( )