An Author’s Choices

I was impressed by Professor Carolyn Rouse’s complex argument in December’s issue (“Capital Crimes”) and agree that authors generally know when to capitalize and have good reasons for choosing whether or not to do so without being impeded by new style rules. 

There may be good reasons “to articulate for the reader how [one’s own] rules work” with, for instance, the use of “Black” versus “black.” In most cases, to use capitalization simply adds emphasis, and it seems logical that an author be allowed to do so, or Not.