Synopses & Reviews
From acclaimed novelist Ben Neihart, a vibrant portrait of gay Harlem's most memorable diva: A'Lelia Walker.
When A'Lelia Walker died in 1931 after a midnight snack of lobster and chocolate cake washed down with champagne, it marked the end of one of the most striking social careers in New York's history. The daughter of rags-to-riches multi-millionaire Madame C.J. Walker (the washerwoman who marketed the most successful straightening technique for African American hair), A'Lelia was America's first black poor little rich girl, using her inheritance to throw elaborate, celebrity-packed parties in her Westchester Mansion and her 136th Street would-be salon, 'Dark Tower'.
In Rough Amusements, third in Bloomsbury's Urban Historicals series, Neihart takes us into the heart of A'Lelia's world-gay Harlem in the 1920s. In tracing its cultural antecedents, he delves into the sexual subculture of nineteenth-century New York, exploring mixed-race prostitution; the bachelorization of New York society; French Balls ("the most sophisticated forum for testing the boundaries of urban sexual behavior"); and The Slide (New York's most depraved nineteenth-century bar). Using A'Lelia's lavish parties as a jumping-off point, Neihart traces the line connecting Davy Crockett's world without women to Walt Whitman's boundless love of beautiful men to A'Lelia's cultivation of the racial, social, and sexual risk that defined the Harlem Renaissance.
Ben Neihart is the author of the novels Hey, Joe and Burning Girl. His writing has appeared in such publications as the New Yorker, Travel & Leisure, the Baltimore Sun, and Bookforum. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
When A'Lelia Walker died in 1931 after a midnight snack of lobster and chocolate cake washed down with champagne, it marked the end of one of the most striking social careers in New York's history. The daughter of rags-to-riches multimillionaire and philanthropist Madame C. J. Walker, A'Lelia was America's first black poor little rich girl, using her inheritance to throw elaborate, celebrity-packed parties in her Westchester mansion and 136th Street salon.
Ben Neihart takes us into the heart of A'Lelia's world, exploring mixed-race prostitution, the bachelorization of New York society, sexually audacious French balls, and the Slide, New York's most depraved nineteenth-century bar. Along the way, he introduces us to a mesmerizing cast, including Nancy Cunard, the combative shipping heiress; Langston Hughes, the self-contained poetic genius; and Jennie June, the tragic, castrated sexual addict.
With Harlem's lavish drag balls as a backdrop, Neihart presents one evening when A'Lelia may or may not have been targeted by gangland kidnappersand brings Harlem's indisputable Queen of the Night to novelistic, incandescent life.
"[Ben Neihart is] a writer with a wicked eye and a syncopated, frequently electrifying style . . . Crammed into this short book is a penetrating backward look at the Harlem Renaissance."Thomas Fleming, The New York Times Book Review
"The posh and the ruck intermingle in this snapshot of a night late in the Harlem Renaissance . . . Neihart is good with the quick character sketchHughes, Richard Bruce Nugent, various gangsters, and A'Leila's progressive-philanthropist mother, Madame C. J. Walker, all get their dueand he draws a memorable picture of the evolving 'down-low' scene in African-American New York from 1880 to 1930. Written with the same brisk energy as the life it portrays."Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-210).
Synopsis
From acclaimed novelist Ben Neihart, a vibrant portrait of gay Harlem's most memorable diva: A'Lelia Walker.
When A'Lelia Walker died in 1931 after a midnight snack of lobster and chocolate cake washed down with champagne, it marked the end of one of the most striking social careers in New York's history. The daughter of rags-to-riches multi-millionaire Madame C.J. Walker (the washerwoman who marketed the most successful straightening technique for African American hair), A'Lelia was America's first black poor little rich girl, using her inheritance to throw elaborate, celebrity-packed parties in her Westchester Mansion and her 136th Street would-be salon, 'Dark Tower'.
In Rough Amusements, third in Bloomsbury's Urban Historicals series, Neihart takes us into the heart of A'Lelia's world-gay Harlem in the 1920s. In tracing its cultural antecedents, he delves into the sexual subculture of nineteenth-century New York, exploring mixed-race prostitution; the bachelorization of New York society; French Balls ("the most sophisticated forum for testing the boundaries of urban sexual behavior"); and The Slide (New York's most depraved nineteenth-century bar). Using A'Lelia's lavish parties as a jumping-off point, Neihart traces the line connecting Davy Crockett's world without women to Walt Whitman's boundless love of beautiful men to A'Lelia's cultivation of the racial, social, and sexual risk that defined the Harlem Renaissance.
About the Author
Ben Neihart is the author of the novels
Hey, Joe and
Burning Girl . His writing has appeared in such publications as
The New Yorker, Travel & Leisure, The Baltimore Sun, and
Book Forum. He lives in Brooklyn.