The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: A Historical Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

by Harold Cruse (Author), Stanley Crouch (Introduction) "In 1940, as one of my first acts in the pursuit of becoming a more "social" being, I joined a YMCA amateur drama group in..." (more)
Key Phrases: American Negro, West Indian, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Eloquent, passionate, forceful — Harold Cruse has had an electrifying impact on an entire generation of African American intellectuals." -- Gerald Horne, author of Race Woman

"I think many of us received the call to be an intellectual through Harold Cruse." -- Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual...crystallized a moment." -- The New York Times

Product Description
First published in 1967 in the wake of race riots and integration fears, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual is an indispensable history and urgent critique of the black left from the Harlem Renaissance through the black arts movement. Memorably portraying prominent figures such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin, Harold Cruse tells of African American artists yoked to rigid doctrines that doom them to political and artistic failure. He then sweeps out from Harlem cultural institutions to broader issues — mass media and communism, black-Jewish relations, the revolutionary use of force — while searching out an authentic black culture based in political self-consciousness and economic independence.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 616 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590171357
• ISBN-13: 978-1590171356
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #480,710 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book that changed my intellectual life period, August 31, 2006

By	E. D. Daniels (tampa, florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this sparwling 500 page book, Cruse lays out his polemics against the Civil Rights movement for ignoring the economic issues that plagued us then and now,acusses black artists for betraying their own cultural gifts to gain wider credibility and lays down the basic ethos of American captialist life.. Every racial group for themselves. And on top of that goes first after black ministers who were more concerned about their own power than uplifting American- Americans and Norman Podhoretz practically calling him a fascist (he is) and the scared cow of all... Saying the so-called Black- Jewish alliance was a sham seeing all this by 1967. Unlike Black intellectuals of today, Cruse spares no one institution in American life in one of the great books in American Thought.



This one book I read 10 years ago along with the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" changed my life and committed me to a life of reading and seeking truth wherever it led me.Cruse who died last year, was America's last great intellectual unlike those today who appear on C-SPAN, Fox and other news outlets being "pop intellectuals" Cruse was searching for truth and solutions in the lives of African- Americans and for that we should be grateful.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He pretty much says it all., July 15, 2005

By	Third World (Bronx, NY United States) - See all my reviews

I don't think Black people can ever have a real conversation about unity until they read this book. Especially the chapter called 'Idealogy in Black'. The book is extremely honest about West Indian, African and African American behavior towards each other which ultimately leads to implosion. He covers everything, The Harlem Renaissance, Communism and many other critical topics but I think his thoughts on why Black movements fail (internal strife/lack of cultural, political and economic direction) are dead on.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars necessary for budding minds..., May 4, 2001

By	Erren Geraud Kelly (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (Paperback)

after 11 years, i finally got around to reading this book....what i liked about it was cruse put it bluntly that the main job of the negro intellectual/artist was not to be a politician unless they were a politician of culture..at times, it seemed that they book was a 500+ page advertisement for the communist party...i didn't realize that so many blacks were marxists....i found the segments of the books where he revealed the shortcomings of paulrobeson as a leader and lorraine hansbury's unwiillingness to write black plays interesting....he also get into detail about the black arts movement, and it's leader, leroi jones. the only complaint i have about books like this is that sometimes reading them feels like your dragging around a ball and chain....but the subjects rewarded my patience...this is a good place to start for the beginning black intellectual...