From Publishers Weekly
Philosophy professor Harris and English professor Molesworth fuse disciplines in this groundbreaking study of Locke (1885–1954), the preeminent African-American aesthetician and philosopher in the years between WWI and WWII, most familiar as the editor of the
New Negro, the chief group presentation of the values and interests of the Harlem Renaissance. The authors are painstakingly detailed along the usual biographical path—childhood, education (Harvard; Oxford, where Locke was the first African-American Rhodes scholar), work (Howard University professor, editor, writer). The authors separate perspectives bring uncommon depth and detail to the analysis of their subjects multiple interests: philosophy, cultural criticism, race theory, adult education, and esthetics, among others. Locke the thinker holds the center in this biography, but all around are glimpses of Locke the social being—a whos who of turn-of-the-century Harvard and of decades of African-American writers, scholars and political figures. Harris and Molesworth are as exhausting as they are exhaustive, and in delineating Lockes life with dense archival richness, the authors have given historians of the Harlem Renaissance, in particular, welcome material to mine for years to come.
(Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"A superb, eye-opening biography. . . . Why has it taken so long for a definitive biography of Locke to appear, when works on comparable black intellectuals abound? It''s a backstory that sheds light on a practical truth: Fascinating subjects for biographies can be the most difficult to take on."—Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer
(Carlin Romano
Philadelphia Inquirer )
"Contemporary scholars tend to simplify by casting him either as a race man or an apolitical aesthete. Yet in fact, as Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth show, Locke kept up the pressure on both roles, as his thought continually refined itself and deepened. . . . The current neglect of Alain Locke should not make us skeptical of the claim made by [Harris and Molesworth], who call him ''the most influential African American intellectual born between W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr.'' They are right."—Ross Posnock, New Republic
(Ross Posnock
New Republic )
“This is the definitive biography of the towering cultural critic and pioneering Afro-American philosopher Alain Locke. The intellectual subtlety and meticulous work of Leonard Harris and Charles Molesworth forever puts Locke on our academic radar screen!”—Cornel West
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Cornel West )
“The absence of a genuine biography of a cultural critic and leader as important as Alain Locke has been a virtual tragedy for serious students of the Harlem Renaissance and the broader question of multiculturalism in America. Because Locke was among the most educated and articulate voices in these and other areas, the need for an authoritative study of his life and times has been urgent. Now the void has been filled with this richly documented, intelligently argued, and commendably expansive study.”—Arnold Rampersad, author of Ralph Ellison: A Biography
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Arnold Rampersad, author of Ralph Ellison: A Biography )
“Alain Locke was not only one of the intellectual parents of the Harlem Renaissance, he was also the preeminent African American philosopher of his generation. This first biography offers crucial insights into the life of a great black intellectual.”—K. Anthony Appiah, author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
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K. Anthony Appiah, author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers )
"In delineating Locke''s life with dense archival richness, the authors have given historians of the Harlem Renaissance, in particular, welcome material to mine for years to come."—Publishers Weekly
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Publishers Weekly )
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
"A valuable resource on Locke and the history of African-American thought."
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Choice )
