Tribune Books Editor Jennifer Day interviews the author about writing the book and how being white helped, hindered, and influenced his work
Lisa Page writes that the book is “… a complete pleasure to read.”
“… it’s hard to read about Hurston and Hughes’ conflict without thinking about other examples of cultural beef, from hip-hop to sports.”
“…shows that, together, they changed the course of African-American literature, as the ‘first great American writers who implicitly claimed that their work was purely black.'”
“Taylor creates a perceptive portrait of the bizarre patron and of the Hurston-Hughes friendship. A fresh look at two important writers of the 1920s.”
“…a fascinating and lively story of two iconoclastic writers…”
“Yuval Taylor digs deeply into the existing scholarship on both writers—and their times—to explore this unusual intimacy and the tragedy of its collapse. “
“An intriguing story about the most confounding and fascinating literary breakup in African American cultural history. “
“Taylor has created an intimate portrait of two luminaries of American literature against a backdrop of the cultural, political, and economic forces that influenced them.”
“clear, lively, and elegant … this is a dazzling book, easy to read but richly rewarding.”