Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights - Hardcover

Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469645645 ISBN 13: 9781469645643

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018

Synopsis

This first comprehensive biography of Jewish American writer and humorist Harry Golden (1903-1981)-author of the 1958 national best-seller Only in America-illuminates a remarkable life intertwined with the rise of the civil rights movement, Jewish popular culture, and the sometimes precarious position of Jews in the South and across America during the 1950s. After recounting Golden's childhood on New York's Lower East Side, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett points to his stint in prison as a young man, after a widely publicized conviction for investment fraud during the Great Depression, as the root of his empathy for the underdog in any story. During World War II, the cigar-smoking, bourbon-loving raconteur landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and founded the Carolina Israelite newspaper, which was published into the 1960s. Golden's writings on race relations and equal rights attracted a huge popular readership. Golden used his celebrity to editorialize for civil rights as the momentous story unfolded. He charmed his way into friendships and lively correspondence with Carl Sandburg, Adlai Stevenson, Robert Kennedy, and Billy Graham, among other notable Americans, and he appeared on the Tonight Show as well as other national television programs. Hartnett's spirited chronicle captures Golden's message of social inclusion for a new audience today.

About this title

Review:

Compelling.--New Hampshire Union Leader

A marvelous biography of a man with numerous and ambiguous
American, Southern, and Jewish identities. . . . A page-turner well worth the the attention of scholars and laypeople.--Mark K. Bauman, The American Jewish Archives Journal

[A] comprehensive biography of [Golden's] life as a popular journalist, author, and vocal civil rights supporter in North Carolina.--American Literature

This book describes a significant chapter of American political history....Will appeal as a well-told, stranger than fiction tale.--CHOICE

[Hartnett] is a superb writer who knows what can be produced when you research the past and learn what 'regular people' are reading.--Robert Stepto, Washington Post

Meticulously researched, and deftly written biography of a self-made commentator who rose to national fame and influence.--American Journalism

[A] brisk, thoroughly researched, and mostly admiring biography.--Edward Kosner, Commentary

[A] highly readable and recommended biography.--Library Journal, starred review

Comprehensive, expertly researched and engagingly written.--News & Observer

[A] comprehensive biography [that] reads like a Who's Who of [Golden's] heyday."--BookReporter.com

About the Author:

Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. She worked as a journalist for more than thirty years in New England and the Pacific Northwest.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1469645645
• ISBN 13: 9781469645643
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368