Reviews for Harlem Renaissance (Bloom's Literary Criticism)

The average rating for Harlem Renaissance (Bloom's Literary Criticism) based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-05 00:00:00 Hunter Sylvester A fantastic look into the life of Mark Twain. He was clever and witty but not always wise. The man was a gambler at heart. I saw the monster "type-writer" that he invested huge amounts of money in at the museum/home in Hartford Connecticut. He had lots of good ideas, but was ahead of his time. That type-writer just about ruined him financially. Publishers stole his royalties by publishing his books in Canada and Great Britain but never paying him for his work. In politics he took a stand against slavery/racism in his novel Huckleberry Finn and opposed the Spanish American War in the Philippines. These were his greatest accomplishments in life. I loved the book and all the details that made it worthwhile reading.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-05 00:00:00 Mark Carlson This book is based on the documentary film of the same name, directed by Ken Burns. It's a great overview of Samuel Clemens's life. It does a good job describing his life, but I've always believed you can learn more about a person by reading his or her own works than by reading descriptions provided by others and filtered through their own biases. I am looking forward reading more of Clemens's original works. In some ways he was a man born before his time, in other ways he would not have fit in with later generations. This allowed him to speak his mind and sometimes very bluntly without getting himself into trouble; in fact it seemed to endear him more to his admiring public. He was outspoken about the abolition of slavery, the emancipation of women, and that the United States had no business establishing itself as an empire and sticking its nose in other countries' business, especially when it brought more power to the federal government, lined the pockets of greedy politicians and business men, an created deep undercurrents to be taken advantage of by overreaching expansionists and religious fanatics. "I am anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land," he said. "This nation is like all the others that have been spewed upon the earth'ready to shout for any cause that will tickle its vanity or fill its pocket. What a hell of a heaven it will be, when they get all these hypocrites assembled there!"