[citation needed] After graduating from Brown, Margolies attended New York University, obtaining his Ph.D; his 1964 dissertation was entitled A critical analysis of the works of Richard Wright.
[4] Margolies has written a number of books exploring the work of African American writers in the United States.
Kirkus Reviews described the book as "a godsend for students and teachers of American literature" and noted "Margolies leaves it to the reader to tie up the manifold themes which emerge, from self-hatred to negritude.
[8] Margolies explored how Wright's work dealt with certain themes: freedom, existential horror, and black nationalism.
[9] Margolies' later works include The Several Lives of Chester Himes, a biography of the black expatriate detective writer Chester Himes;[10] Which Way Did He Go?, an examination of the private eye detective in the work of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes, and Ross Macdonald; and New York and the Literary Imagination: The City in Twentieth Century Fiction and Drama, an exploration of how 20th-century writers have portrayed New York City.