This first comprehensive biography of Jewish American writer and
humorist Harry Golden (1903-1981)--author of the 1958 national
best-seller
Only in America--illuminates a remarkable life
intertwined with the rise of the civil rights movement, Jewish
popular culture, and the sometimes precarious position of Jews in
the South and across America during the 1950s.
After recounting Golden's childhood on New York's Lower East Side,
Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett points to his stint in prison as a young
man, after a widely publicized conviction for investment fraud
during the Great Depression, as the root of his empathy for the
underdog in any story. During World War II, the cigar-smoking,
bourbon-loving raconteur landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and
founded the
Carolina Israelite newspaper, which was
published into the 1960s. Golden's writings on race relations and
equal rights attracted a huge popular readership. Golden used his
celebrity to editorialize for civil rights as the momentous story
unfolded. He charmed his way into friendships and lively
correspondence with Carl Sandburg, Adlai Stevenson, Robert Kennedy,
and Billy Graham, among other notable Americans, and he appeared on
the
Tonight Show as well as other national television
programs. Hartnett's spirited chronicle captures Golden's message
of social inclusion for a new audience today.