No excuses can hide the criminal actions of a Nazi fellow-traveller in this admirably objective documentary, suggests MARTIN HALL
Self-discovery as a black woman
MARJORIE MAYO enjoys an engaging biography of an exceptional African-American novelist, anthropologist and folklorist
CLUES TO THE PAST: Women of an African American family, photographed between 1918 and 1922
PAUL DONOVAN relishes a fascinating exploration of the leading lights of the Labour right in the 1970s
BEN LUNN alerts us to the creeping return of philanthropy and private patronage, and suggests alternative paths to explore
A novel by Argentinian Jorge Consiglio, a personal dictionary by Uruguayan Ida Vitale, and poetry by Mexican Homero Aridjis
MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
Zora Neale Hurston
Cheryl R Hopson, Reaktion, £12.99
THIS is the story of an exceptional African-American woman, a creative writer, an anthropologist and a folklorist, who grew up in the Deep South in the post-reconstruction period.
Although she was born into a virulently violent, white supremacist society, she succeeded in gaining artistic and professional success through sheer determination and talent, becoming a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
Cheryl R Hopson’s biography explores Zora Neale Hurston’s life and works, emphasising her remarkable achievements, whil recognising some of her inherent contradictions.
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RON JACOBS reviews a new biography of the American poet who revolutionised the perception of black writers in the creative milieu of the day
JOHN GREEN marvels at the rediscovery of a radical US photographer who took the black civil rights movement to her heart
JENNY FARRELL traces the critical role that the CPUSA played in the education of Harlem’s greatest man of letters
JENNY FARRELL welcomes the first memoir to be published in English from a woman’s point of view, giving the perspective of a GDR spy