The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930

by Steven Watson

Book Overview

The first book in the Circles of the Twentieth Century series which focuses on writers, artists, poets, hostesses and patrons who played a role in moderism as we know it. Watson explores the lively... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679758895
• ISBN13: 9780679758891
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.4" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

It's good

This is a worthwhile and well-researched book. It is more scholarly than I expected, and as a result, it took me a while to get fully engaged in. By the time I got to the section discussing the jazz artists, it was hard to put down. I was familiar with most of the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance to some extent. The book painted a more vivid picture of many of them, and gave keen perspectives on the social and economic milieu that helped to shape the period. It was fascinating to read about some of the interlocking relationships, in particular the relationships between Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Charlotte Mason. Examples such as this changed my notion of writing always being an insular profession. The men and women of the Harlem Renaissance benefited by each other's support as well as competition.

This book is informative, entertaining, coherent.

I read this book in hardcover as well as several others for a paper I wrote. The author was able to take the disparate threads of musicians, artists, writers and benefactors who contributed to the Renaissance and weave together a chronology that contained pictures, specific information about the "hotspots" in Harlem and complete, sometimes intimate portraits of all concerned. If the Harlem Renaissance was ever to be depicted in a movie, this book would be a ready-made screen play. The hardcover edition is worth the extra money.

Their Eyes Were Watching God= A Great Book!!

I really enjoyed this book. I had to read it for an english class. At first I thought it was going to be hard to read and dumb due to the dialect, but as I read further into the book, I found out what a great book it was and why it was on the required reading list. I would greatly recommmend reading this book to any one who hasnot. It deals with a black woman's search for indeoendence over 25 years and 3 marriages. It is a great book and gets TWO thumbs up from me!!!