In 1955 Richard Wright, an American writer who wanted to hear “the human race speaking,” traveled to Bandung, Indonesia to cover the unprecedented gathering of Asian—and a few African—leaders that has become known as the Bandung Conference. The Color Curtain, Wright’s book about the conference, is among other things an appeal for altruism, a call for the West to nurture the new-born countries represented at Bandung—even if that would mean grooming potential rivals.
