Description
Book SynopsisIn the early twentieth century, a brand of men and women moved to New York City. For them, the city's immigrant neighborhoods provided a place where the fancies and forms of a new America could be tested. This book tells the story of most famous of these neighborhoods, Greenwich Village, which became a symbol of social and intellectual freedom.
Trade Review"Stansell frames her book around three activities: talking, writing and loving. She compels readers to appreciate what was shockingly new in each activity--no small feat, since we now take (nearly) for granted the unfettered speech, print and sex that these early radicals found so daring."--Patricia Cline Cohen, New York Times "[American Moderns] is about the creation of a new life in early-twentieth-century New York... Stansell's book is a triumph."--Eunice Lipton, Nation "[Stansell's] history of Greenwich Village between 1890 and 1920 never forgets that people who defy political convention and people who defy artistic convention gravitate toward each other whatever their differences."--Village Voice "Stansell's book will certainly appeal to all those wishing to know more about radical politics in America, and its relationship with art and domestic life."--Richard Martin, American Studies Today