Unger argues convincingly that Black womens experiences as librarians, writers, booksellers, book club members, and readers were both personal and political, using compelling archival material and nuanced analysis. She positions their literary practices as part of a long and continuing tradition of Black womens uses of language, literacy, and literature, while remaining in conversation with Chicago history as well as general reading and reception history. Reading the Renaissance reflects the complexities of the lived, but often ignored or marginalized, experiences of Black women who led but also sustained Black Chicagos reading cultures. - Shawn Anthony Christian, author of The Harlem Renaissanceand the Idea of a New Negro Reader
In this deeply researched book, Mary Unger provides a missing link between the Harlem Renaissance and the dramatic proliferation of Black readers and writers later in the 20th century. Ungers study provides a wealth of neglected material and makes a substantial contribution to a history of African American reading and reception. - Barbara Hochman, author of Uncle Toms Cabin and the Reading Revolution: Race, Literacy, Childhood, and Fiction, 18511911