A huge question lingers over
Radio Golf: How did the late August Wilson -- who lived long enough to apply the finishing touches to his 10-play cycle about the progress and plight of 20th-century African-Americans -- conclude an ultra-ambitious enterprise unparalleled in domestic theatrical annals?

For a while, it seems as if the play, which takes place in 1997, will be a respectable easing off from the more highly explosive earlier entries. But when Wilson unleashes his second act, the simmering nature of the beginning of this final work takes on the dimensions of a clever tease. Before dropping the final curtain, Wilson not only introduces a triumphant end-of-century development; he als[...]