"Hartnett is a superb writer who knows what can be produced when you research the past and learn what ‘regular people’ are reading."
"Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett’s biography of Harry Golden is, at 266 pages of text, the right length. She does not scant any of her subject’s faults and brings out his virtues."
"Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett’s fascinating new book, Carolina Israelite, reminds us of the old aphorism that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Written in sparkling prose and bristling with insight, her authoritative biography of Harry Golden reconstructs the extraordinary life of a Jewish ex-con from New York who, after resettling in North Carolina in 1941, became a best-selling author and a powerful voice for civil rights and social justice. The author’s gift for storytelling rivals that of her protagonist, and the book is a joy to read from start to finish."
"As Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett demonstrates in this excellent biography, there was a lot more to Golden that his books and his Jewish newspaper…"
"Hartnett has written a marvelous biography of a man with numerous and ambiguous American, Southern, and Jewish identities….It is a page-turner well worth the attention of scholars and laypeople."
"A superbly written, solidly researched book… will stand as a moving portrait of a man whose life and work, in Hartnett’s words, trace the ‘arc of the civil rights movement.’"
"Most importantly, Hartnett places Golden’s life and work in historical context, drawing masterfully on a wide range of secondary sources to make an eloquent case that remembering Golden still has value 35 years after his death—especially as equal voting rights are again coming under attack."
"Comprehensive, expertly researched and engagingly written."
"This book describes a significant chapter of American political history, serves as a supplemental resource for social and cognitive psychology, and will appeal as a well-told, stranger-than-fiction tale."
"…This highly readable and recommended biography will be a welcome addition to public and university libraries, especially those with interests in Jewish American culture, the civil rights movement, and the American South."
"Hartnett pulls no punches in describing the life and career of the Jewish American humorist perhaps best known for his bestselling first book, Only in America (1958)…Much more than the biography of one man, however, this is a well-told account of the civil rights movement, describing significant milestones in its history, the splits among its leaders, and the various forms that activism took. A solid piece of research that reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of a now-forgotten man who loved a good story and could put a comic spin on important social issues."
"[Golden]…is the subject of a brisk, thoroughly researched, and mostly admiring biography by Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett."
"[This book] makes a lively and convincing case that Golden made people care about Jews, the South, and civil rights. At the same time, it makes the reader care about Harry Golden."
"In a book both sweeping and meticulous, raucous and thoughtful, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett not only chronicles the remarkable life of Harry Golden, but gives us new insight into the unique relationship of American Jews and African Americans. It is a superb, enjoyable, and enlightening work."
"I’ve always wondered about the man behind the newspaper the Carolina Israelite and the best-selling book Only in America and now I know: in her engaging and wonderfully written biography, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett has given us a vivid portrait of a man, a place, and his time."
"Harry Golden was a world-class character, a masterful storyteller who used his quick wit and humor to ridicule southern segregation with outrageous but hilarious satire to carve out an improbable place in American and southern Jewish history. We can thank Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett for her well-researched biography, bringing to life for a whole new generation the man who wrote the smashing best-seller called Only in America."
"This highly readable portrait makes the case for Harry Golden as both a historically significant and truly inimitable character."
"This honest and humorous volume brings the memory of Harry Golden to life as a man and a public figure, with all his charms and flaws exposed, and puts him in the context of his times. He was an essential partner in the civil rights movement, and the United States could use another Harry Golden today, someone who can puncture political posturing as deftly as he did. Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett shows that doing what Golden did took not only intelligence and imagination but also considerable personal courage."