The Harlem Renaissance documents the lives and interactions of the first self-conscious African-American literary constellation and chronicles the brilliant outpouring of such writers as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, as well as the work of artists Aaron Douglas and Richard Bruce Nugent. Steven Watson also brings to life the world that supported these figures: the forefathers of the New Negro movement, W.E.B.

DuBois and Alain Locke: the flamboyant hostess of Harlem, A'Lelia Walker; such white Negrotarians as Carl Van Vechten and Muriel Draper, who headed Uptown to witness every thing from provocative nightclub revues to extravagant drag balls. The vogue for Harlem was also reflected in the golden age of jazz - one could hear Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, or Duke Ellington in glittering nightspots.

1. Street maps, sociograms, and sidebars presenting little-known details, Harlem slang, poems, and song lyrics further evoke this short-lived era. Bringing together these fascinating lives and this legendary neighborhood.