In response to David Fears: as a matter of fact, Livy did read HF in manuscript (see Ron Powers 488). That the offending term remains suggests that she was not offended by it nor did she expect other folks to be offended by it. Early critics of HF were more likely to be offended by their perception of the novel's moral relativity, its attack on Christianity, and its bad grammar than its use of contemporary (and more or less accepted) racial terminology. Jeff Miller Gonzaga University