Synopses & Reviews
First published in 1967 in the wake of race riots and integration fears, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual is an indispensable history and urgent critique of the black left from the Harlem Renaissance through the black arts movement. Memorably portraying prominent figures such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin, Harold Cruse tells of African American artists yoked to rigid doctrines that doom them to political and artistic failure. He then sweeps out from Harlem cultural institutions to broader issues - mass media and communism, black-Jewish relations, the revolutionary use of force - while searching out an authentic black culture based in political self-consciousness and economic independence.
Book News Annotation:
As the early triumphs of the Civil Rights movement transformed into
frustration and violence, Cruse (1916-2005) offered activists and
intellectuals a new perspective on the relationship between American
blacks and American society. His book reviews black intellectual life
from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, arguing that figures
such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin failed to
understand the specifically American character of racism in the US.
The 1967 edition was published by Morrow.
Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Synopsis:
Published in 1967, as the early triumphs of the Civil Rights movement yielded to increasing frustration and violence, "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual "electrified a generation of activists and intellectuals. The product of a lifetime of struggle and reflection, Cruse's book is a singular amalgam of cultural history, passionate disputation, and deeply considered analysis of the relationship between American blacks and American society. Reviewing black intellectual life from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, Cruse discusses the legacy (and offers memorably acid-edged portraits) of figures such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin, arguing that their work was marked by a failure to understand the specifically American character of racism in the United States. This supplies the background to Cruse's controversial critique of both integrationism and black nationalism and to his claim that black Americans will only assume a just place within American life when they develop their own distinctive centers of cultural and economic influence. For Cruse's most important accomplishment may well be his rejection of the clich's of the melting pot in favor of a vision of Americanness as an arena of necessary and vital contention, an open and ongoing struggle.
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