At four years of age, Richard Wright set fire to his home; at five his father deserted his family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. Moved from home to home, he had had, by the age of twelve, only one year's formal education. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts about life under white subjection, about fear, hunger and hatred. Gradually he learned to survive in a world of white hostility, secretly satisfying his craving for books and knowledge until the time when he could follow his dreams of justice and opportunity in the north.