Published in 1965 at the height of the civil rights movement, Manchild in the Promised Land came to define the everyday hardship faced by blacks raised in America’s northern ghettos. Written as a thinly fictionalized autobiography, it follows Brown’s protagonist as he navigates drug dealers and hustlers, prostitutes and police. Through education, he starts to see a way out and begins to mine dignity and hope from his anger and isolation. “It’s a guided tour through hell conducted by a man who broke out,” one critic said. Given the alienation and ostracism that still plague urban youth, his journey resonates today.