By the mid-1930s, Erskine Caldwell was a well-known and acclaimed novelist and short story writer. He was also quite controversial for his discussions of sex and race as well as his portrayal of Southerners – particularly those who were Caucasians.

Caldwell readily criticized those who were rich and powerful for their brutal and consistent mistreatment of African Americans, noting that whites could abuse, rape, and even murder blacks without fear of reprisals.

Others objected to Caldwell’s characterization of many poor, white Southerners as lazy, naïve, sex-driven degenerate buffoons!

In his f...