My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir

My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir

In this captivating new memoir, award-winning writer Jessica B. Harris recalls a lost eraâ€”the vibrant New York City of her youth, where her social circle included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and other members of the Black intelligentsia.

In the Technicolor glow of the early seventies, Jessica B. Harris debated, celebrated, and danced her way from the jazz clubs of the Manhattan's West Side to the restaurants of the Village, living out her buoyant youth alongside the great minds of the dayâ€”luminaries like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. My Soul Looks Back is her paean to that fascinating social circle and the depth of their shared commitment to activism, intellectual engagement, and each other.

Harris paints evocative portraits of her illustrious friends: Baldwin as he read aloud an early draft of If Beale Street Could Talk, Angelou cooking in her California kitchen, and Morrison relaxing at Baldwinâ€™s house in Provence. Harris describes her role as theater critic for the New York Amsterdam News and editor at then burgeoning Essence magazine; star-studded parties in the South of France; drinks at Mikellâ€™s, a hip West Side club; and the simple joy these extraordinary people took in each otherâ€™s company. The book is framed by Harrisâ€™s relationship with Sam Floyd, a fellow professor at Queens College, who introduced her to Baldwin.

More than a memoir of friendship and first love My Soul Looks Back is a carefully crafted, intimately understood homage to a bygone era and the people that made it so remarkable.
Country USA
Brand SCRIBNER
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2017-05-09
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781501125904

Country	USA
Brand	SCRIBNER
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2017-05-09
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781501125904

My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir

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