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Zusatztext 68207937 Informationen zum Autor A professor of American history and literature, Jonathan Gill has taught at Columbia University, City College New York, and Fordham University, and is currently on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and Hogeschool van Amsterdam. He has written for The New York Times, Associated Press, and is arts critic at the Holland Times . After more than two decades of living in uptown Manhattan, he moved to Amsterdam. Klappentext Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of Black America, Harlem's twentieth century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In "Harlem," historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place. From Henry Hudson's first contact with native Harlemites, through Harlem's years as a colonial outpost on the edge of the known world, Gill traces the neighborhood's story, marshaling a tremendous wealth of detail and a host of fascinating figures from George Washington to Langston Hughes. Harlem was an agricultural center under British rule and the site of a key early battle in the Revolutionary War. Later, wealthy elites including Alexander Hamilton built great estates there for entertainment and respite from the epidemics ravaging downtown. In the nineteenth century, transportation urbanized Harlem and brought waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and elsewhere. Harlem's mix of cultures, extraordinary wealth and extreme poverty was electrifying and explosive. Extensively researched, impressively synthesized, eminently readable, and overflowing with captivating characters, "Harlem" is an ambitious, sweeping history, and an impressive achievement. Praise for "Harlem: " "The ancient bones of Harlem are bared, and its old Dutch farmhouses are uncovered, and the forgotten cattle in the pastures shake away a long-settled dust. In this retrospection, something remarkable happens. Page after page of Gill's book removes brick after brick of the hulking substance of Harlem, paring it back through the jazz and the riots and the poetry to its ancient hours, until a quiet nothingness is left, and the place at last makes sense." --"The New York Times" "An epic worthy of its fabled subject."--Edward Kosner, "The Wall Street Journal" "Comprehensive and compassionate--an essential text of American history and culture." --"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review) "Kudos to Jonathan Gill for this savvy reconstruction of Harlem's long, complicated, and often vexing history. A terrific read, with plenty of surprises along the way, it's bound to become a classic or I'll eat my hat." --Edwin G. Burrows, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of "Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898" "Authoritative and exhaustive, in addition to being well-written and perceptive ... We are in Gill's debt for digging so deeply into Harlem's past, for describing it with no agenda beyond thoroughness and fairness, and for reminding us that there is so much in Harlem to honor and celebrate as well as to deplore and lament. It is one of the most significant neighborhoods in the country, and its contributions - in social leadership, in literature and the arts - have been huge and invaluable."--Jonathan Yardley, "The Washington Post" "An exquisitely detailed account of the 400-year history of Harlem. ... Gill details major figures from George Washington and Alexander Hamilton to Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X as well as the vibrancy of music, art, literature, religion, politics, and urban sensibility that has come to signify Harlem. Richly researched ... a vibrant, well-paced, engaging history of an iconic Zusammenfassung Harlem is perhaps the most famous! iconic neighborhood in the Unite...
