Reddit reviews The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Dover Thrift Editions)

Dante is a pretty traditional part of the Western canon, but you can probably make the argument if you try.

Some other books to consider (and I'll even give you male protags):

• Pedro Paramo - the story of a man searching for his father, the birth of magical realism.
  
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold (or anything by Marquez) - Who killed Santiago Nassar, and why?
  
• Things Fall Apart the story of how society and changing expectations weigh on a Nigerian man named Okonkwo.
  
• Fictions by Borges - you will never be the same after you read this collection of short stories. Borges was amazing.
  
• If you can make the case for Dante, you can probably make the case for Crime and Punishment, though I'm not totally sure why you'd want to.
  
• For an interesting view of a multi-racial American in the 20s, check out The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, which is guaranteed to make you think about what it means to pass and what it means to be true to yourself.
  
  (And I know you probably don't have time to read any/all of these before school starts, but they're good books to be aware of, and you should check them out if you can.)

Kind of like how a dark skinned Spaniard could easily get results for Iberian Peninsula or North Africa or possibly even the Middle East. Still a Spaniard, though, and European-white by an American definition in the 1900s.

Whenever I read stories like this I always think of the Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man that I read when I was a kid. The author’s subject is described as having caramel colored skin. Raised in a different home, it really could have gone a different way.