A weird headline in the New York Times:

V.S. Naipaul, Who Wrote Unsparingly of Colonialism, Is Dead
By RACHEL DONADIO 8:21 PM ET

Mr. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, wrote about the liberation movements that swept across Africa and the Caribbean, where he was born. He was 85.

A more accurate headline might be:

V.S. Naipaul, Who Wrote Unsparingly of Post-Colonial Blacks and Muslims, Is Dead

Naipaul was a Hindu Trinidadian. The black Trinidadian CPA who lived upstairs from me in Chicago in the 1990s mentioned Naipaul had been his substitute teacher. He was a tough grader.

Sir Vidia didn’t think too highly of blacks or Muslims, and he was embarrassed by his fellow Hindus. He somewhat liked proper Englishmen, but mostly didn’t think all that much of anybody except V.S. Naipaul. His protege Paul Theroux shared his misanthropy.

Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the wake of 9/11, which made his distaste for Islam briefly less disqualifying.

[Comment at Unz.com]