With ‘Ragtime,’ E.L. Doctorow Blends Fact and Fantasy to Deliver a Pointed Critique

Correction: August 29, 2022 An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misidentified a cover of the novel “Ragtime”; it is an early edition cover, not the first edition. FOR ALL ITS grounding in history and its exhaustive research, “Ragtime” (1975) immediately announces itself as a …