"In this smart, well-written study of the brilliant, free-spirited writer of Harlem Renaissance renown, Zora Neale Huston, historian Tiffany Patterson deepens our understanding of the, often unexplored, interior lives and culture of residents of early 20th century southern black communities. This is a gem of a book! Tiffany Patterson adroitly captures and illuminates the fascinating complexity of Hurston and the places she represented, inhabited, and imagined."-Darlene Clark Hine, editor, Black Women in America 3 Volumes, Revised and Expanded Edition "Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life is a blockbuster book which gracefully and convincingly challenges established views of Hurston and her region. Especially impressive is the placing of Hurston's life, fiction, and folklore within the history of all-black towns, maroon societies, and nationalist traditions. Patterson portrays a cultural naturalism not obsessed with whites at every turn, and expressive of both love and gender conflict, unity and class/color tension. This book's achievement far transcends the recovery of new sources and hinges on an ability to deploy those sources in a way that makes new our understanding of Hurston, and of the early twentieth century rural south."-David Roediger, University of Illinois, and author of Working Toward Whiteness "Enthusiasts for the work of Zora Neale Hurston will not be disappointed in Tiffany Ruby Patterson's excellent study of Hurston's work... her precise recasting of history through the eyes of one of our most careful observers is a book that never fails to inform or delight... This is a valuable and long-overdue addition to scholarship on Hurston and black life in the South."-Black Issues Book Review
