What a solid reinforcement of the idea that birth is the way to be loved by the British elites. One could paraphrase Amis and ask "How do you get from a rented room in Whitechapel to a freehold in Knightsbridge? You get the keys from your family's trust fund manager."
Was he born of an elite family?
Edit: “Barnes was born in Leicester, although his family moved to the outer suburbs of London six weeks afterwards. Both of his parents were French teachers.” [0]
So, as a Black American, I do believe it's important to hear from the voices of people who are suffering.
That being said, I find that, unfortunately, that market-in-books tends to really lean into the suffering, and I say it's important to consider the extent to which that might weigh down the writing and the reading experience.
This is the primary reason I bristle at the idea of "getting away from e.g. white male writers." There, of course, is nothing inherently better about them; but our unfortunate social / cultural / historical filters have made it so that (easily findable) writing that is free from certain kinds of suffering comes from them -- and sometimes you need that too.
(The erstwhile Mr. Dorothy Thompson)
(1986) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
(1979) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcCK99wHrk0
(1978) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjXLzapT4-Q
(1975) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE6fs26i4BA
now time for me to listen to The Meters, and get some prehistory? (then again, a basic problem is once you hit New Orleans, everyone has influenced everyone)
Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvuPuOrYMlg
* the "escalating terrorism" mentioned in her en.WP article probably refers to things like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing ?
There is also a load of trust fund babies that no one has ever heard about.