Carla Kaplan

Thoroughly enjoyed and learned a bit about the Harlem Renaissance. I found the book interesting in part because of its unusual focus on the white women drawn to Harlem and black people, culture, and issues. As the author acknowledges, these women fall into a category of dismissal and disparagement (and this continued into the Sixties if not also to today). The author not only recognizes but explores the complicated motives of the women she writes about. There were also complicated motives on the other side of the color line and, in all, Kaplan does a good job of presenting a complex and nuanced story of the period. She also makes some interesting connections between the struggles of blacks and of women for civil rights.

I'd like to explore more about the Harlem Renaissance. It is a period in which I recognize many of the names without knowing much about the individuals and their roles.

Plus, I just love that crazy Nancy Cunard...… (más)

This history and group biography of several of the strong minded but sometimes misguided white women who inserted themselves into the Harlem Renaissance is a fascinating look at the rich culture of the time, black and white. Though the 1920's is thought of as an era of freethinking flappers, views of race were rigid and and punishments for crossing the color line were harsh. These "Miss Anne" white women wanted to help bring about a paradigm shift, but they met with a lot of resistance from both sides then, and are largely forgotten today.

Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance is a scholarly book with end-notes and a bibliography, but it is anything but dry. The women's stories are told in sensitive but unvarnished detail and their lives are varied and highly interesting. I picked up the book because I wanted to read about forward thinking novelist Fannie Hurst and rebel British aristocrat Nancy Cunard, but the other women profiled include organizers, educators, and authors whose struggles, choices, personal lives, and public personas are just as compelling.… (más)