This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950

This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait 1900-1950 is a must read. Its an important essay in American cultural history. The Harlem of which Anderson writes was an outpost of America optimism a gathering place for the avant-garde in music dance and democratic interracial relationships. It was our own homegrown version of Paris. Today that Harlem is gone. Anyone who want to grasp what this nation has lost in Harlems decline can find it here.