About the Author:
Leonard Harris is professor of philosophy at Purdue University. Charles Molesworth is professor of English at Queens College in New York.
Review:
"A superb, eye-opening biography. . . . Why has it taken so long for a definitive biography of Locke to appear, when works on comparable black intellectuals abound? It's a backstory that sheds light on a practical truth: Fascinating subjects for biographies can be the most difficult to take on." (Carlin Romano Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Contemporary scholars tend to simplify by casting him either as a race man or an apolitical aesthete. Yet in fact, as Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth show, Locke kept up the pressure on both roles, as his thought continually refined itself and deepened. . . . The current neglect of Alain Locke should not make us skeptical of the claim made by [Harris and Molesworth], who call him 'the most influential African American intellectual born between W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr.' They are right." (Ross Posnock New Republic)
“This is the definitive biography of the towering cultural critic and pioneering Afro-American philosopher Alain Locke. The intellectual subtlety and meticulous work of Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth forever puts Locke on our academic radar screen!” (Cornel West)
“The absence of a genuine biography of a cultural critic and leader as important as Alain Locke has been a virtual tragedy for serious students of the Harlem Renaissance and the broader question of multiculturalism in America. Because Locke was among the most educated and articulate voices in these and other areas, the need for an authoritative study of his life and times has been urgent. Now the void has been filled with this richly documented, intelligently argued, and commendably expansive study.” (Arnold Rampersad, author of Ralph Ellison: A Biography)
“Alain Locke was not only one of the intellectual parents of the Harlem Renaissance, he was also the preeminent African American philosopher of his generation. This first biography offers crucial insights into the life of a great black intellectual.” (K. Anthony Appiah, author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers)
"In delineating Locke's life with dense archival richness, the authors have given historians of the Harlem Renaissance, in particular, welcome material to mine for years to come." (Publishers Weekly)
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
"A valuable resource on Locke and the history of African-American thought." (Choice)
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