Published in 1967, as the early triumphs of the Civil Rights movement yielded to
increasing frustration and violence, "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual "ele
ctrified a generation of activists and intellectuals. The product of a lifetime
of struggle and reflection, Cruse's book is a singular amalgam of cultural histo
ry, passionate disputation, and deeply considered analysis of the relationship b
etween American blacks and American society. Reviewing black intellectual life f
rom the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, Cruse discusses the legacy (and of
fers memorably acid-edged portraits) of figures such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine H
ansberry, and James Baldwin, arguing that their work was marked by a failure to
understand the specifically American character of racism in the United States.
