From the close of the 19th century, when the first pre-Renaissance writers began to be published for the dominating white readers, to the Depression era that marked the demise of the movement, Cary D. Wintz analyzes the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance as the attempt of black writers to come to terms with the social issues of the 1920s-1930s through their writing.

Being his approach both literary and social, he does not neglect the different positions of politics and philosophers, highlighting the non-unanimity of views on the goals the participants should aim at and the ensuing strains arising from within the movement.

Wintz sublty depicts an intertwining net of relationships: black community and its literature, black artists and their target, black protégés and white patrons, black authors and white publishing houses, emphasising that it was this sheer interplay between the black intelligentsia and the white community that kept alive the vitality of the movement, despite the inevitable disagreements among the participants. Notwithstanding the fact that the Harlem Renaissance was led by a "loose coalition" of intellectuals, Wintz detects its "uniqueness" and bound in the "shared undertaking" of those same intellectuals who became aware of creating a "revolution in American literature".

Wintz's particular ability is of investigating the Harlem Renaissance in all its nuances, including in his portrayal both the remote rise of the movement, with the analysis of the impact on the white-dominated scene of major black writers such as Chestnutt and Dunbar, the reasons of its fall and its effects on the following generations of writers, besides the accurate report of the hey-day of the movement.

Special attention must be drawn on the sources consulted by the critic. As a matter of fact, most of the correspondence exchanged among the participants is scattered all over the United States, kept in several Libraries, Centers and Collections. Therefore, the consultations of such sources underline a work of precision and refinement and an attempt of restoring the live voices of the Renaissance makers.

As a student and researcher on the topic of the Harlem Renaissance, I found this book exceptionally useful, detailed and clear. The author's style is straight-to-the-point and pragmatic. He wisely avoids any overlapping digression to the main subject matter and makes the reader understand his outlooks with clear images. I warmly recommend this text to any reader who feels like enriching his / her knowledge about this enlighting phase of American literature!

This book's history is all too well known. It indeed was the inspiration for D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." Griffith's film was a masterpiece of cinematic brilliance, and at the same time, a disgusting excuse for the most virulent kind of racism. The latter can be said of Dixon's book. But the book does not have Griffith's artistic merits.

This book should be read as an historical artifact, to give the reader a sense how powerful people in the South thought when they turned Reconstruction on its ear. There were many things wrong with how the South was treated after the war (more so due to Lincoln's assassination). Its attempt to bring some sense of dignity and equality to the ex-slaves was not wrong. With the advent of Jim Crow laws, the South proved beyond a doubt that slavery played a major role in the Civil War, despite what some apologists of today say.

I think it is especially sad when I read reviews that equate this book with history. It is not history, it is not fact. It is an example of the type of thinking that went on when the South decided that once again African Americans were not to be considered equal. Separate But Equal always was a lie. And so is so much of what Dixon espoused in this book.

Thomas Dixon, Jr.'s "The Clansman" is best known as the prime source for D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." A bestseller in its own right, "The Clansman" presents a vision of a South overrun with lascivious black men out to rape white women unless the KKK can intercede. As a novel it is maudlin, melodramatic, and unconvincing; as a history textbook, it is damnable.

Some reviewers for the hardcover edition of this book would have you believe that, because Woodrow Wilson approved of both Dixon's novel and Griffith's film, his affirmation validates Dixon's depiction of the poor maligned white man and his sexually threatened wife and daughter. Hardly the case--in spite of history textbooks' portrayal of Wilson, he was himself a virulent racist, outmatched only, perhaps, by his wife. As James W. Loewen indicates in his review of history textbooks, "Lies My Teacher Told Me," the "filmmaker David W. Griffith quoted Wilson's two-volume history of the United States, now notorious for its racist view of Reconstruction, in his infamous masterpiece 'The Clansman' [later retitled Birth of a Nation], a paean to the Ku Klux Klan for its role in putting down 'black-dominated' Republican state governments during Reconstruction" (18). Loewen notes later that "Wilson was not only antiblack; he was also far and away our most nativist president, repeatedly questioning the loyalty of those he called 'hyphenated Americans.' 'Any man who carries a hyphen about with him,' said Wilson, 'carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready' " (19).

If you read "The Clansman," read it because it was a bestseller, was recommended by an American President, and spawned a movie which at the time was a landmark in cinematic technical achievement--facts which should shock you. It may be racist tripe, but its historical significance remains relevant--as does the continued dangerous potential for people to buy into versions of reality that bear little congruence with truth. If we've learned anything over the past few years, just because a President of the United States says something doesn't make it true, nor does it excuse you from the need to think critically for yourself.

I do not agree with Mr. Dixons glorification of Lincoln, thus I found the first several sections of the book difficult to stomach. However, once the book reached the Reconstruction of South I gave it my undivided attention. You'll find no P.C. revisionism here. Mr. Dixons novel reads more like fact than fiction, yet no one these days has the courage to tell the truth for fear of being called a racist. President Woodrow Wilson said of the book (and the film "Birth of a Nation") that it was "All Too True" and he should know as he lived in the South during Reconstruction. As an A.P. History teacher I only wish I could get away with having my students read this book.