The Harlem Renaissance

Chronicles the early twentieth-century artistic and intellectual revolution in Black America

Grade 9 Up?The eye-catching cover makes this book one you just have to pick up, and the stimulating narrative and striking illustrations make it hard to put down. The book is handsomely designed, resulting in a look that is sleek, stylish, and sophisticated. But its appearance is not the only thing this volume has going for it. The first two chapters present an engaging introduction to the Harlem Renaissance and the evolution of Harlem as "the Negro Capital of the World." Succeeding chapters discuss the music, art, and literature that were produced by African Americans in that time and place. Notables such as Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Ethel Waters, Langston Hughes, Bill Robinson, Aaron Douglas, and Augusta Savage are included, as well as the Cotton Club, the Federal Arts Program, the Harmon Foundation, the Great Depression, prohibition, the Urban League, and many other individuals, institutions, organizations, and events that helped shape the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. Primary-source material is abundant and set off from the rest of the text in shaded blocks of brown. The book has a comprehensive index and helpful bibliographies. Which is a good thing, because after reading this entertaining account, readers will surely be looking for more material about the creative talents introduced in this text.?Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 6^-10. With stirring contemporary photos and prints on thick paper, the handsome, spacious design draws you into the history and collective biography of the great African American artistic renaissance. The text is sometimes flat (there's none of the excitement of Giovanni's Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate ), and the various pieces aren't always smoothly connected, but Haskins does a solid job of introducing the great figures in literature, painting, sculpture, theater, and music. He also discusses the crucial debates of the time about the black aesthetic as well as the ongoing tension about who should speak for African Americans and how they should be portrayed. This is a celebratory volume, but Haskins adds interest by also including some contemporary criticism of the movement, such as the charges of white paternalism that fostered distortion and compromise. The long, wonderful quotations from poetry, fiction, and essays will make teens want to read more. Hazel Rochman