“In the 1930s, the government paid writers to interview 80- and 90-year...” — Colson Whitehead Quote

“In the 1930s, the government paid writers to interview 80- and 90-year-old former slaves, and I read those accounts. I came away realizing - not surprisingly - that many slave masters were sadists who spent a lot of time thinking up creative ways of hurting people.”

“If you write about race in 1850, you end up talking about race today because in many ways, so little has changed.”

“I always try to mix it up with each book - changing tone, changing style keeps the work very vital for me.”

“However, the Administration's plan to privatize Social Security will undermine retirement security for all Americans by cutting guaranteed benefits by more than 40 percent, and risky private accounts won't make up for the loss of benefits for millions of Americans.”

“Pence is far too conservative for me, but by all accounts, he's an intelligent, experienced, decent man with no skeletons in his closet.”

“State courts usually rule that correspondence between government officials, about government business, are public records, whether they use their government e-mail accounts or private ones.”