Strivers Row (74 page)

Franz Lidz's
Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders,
is a lovely, poignant history-cum-family memoir that tells New York's ultimate cautionary story. I have relied upon his research (and upon a chance picture and mention of the Collyers in the
Amsterdam News
), and told their story just as it was recorded. My only embellishments have been their encounter with Malcolm, and the pushing of their grisly deaths back by some four years, from 1947 to 1943.

My meager knowledge of jazz and of the great dance halls of Harlem was exponentially enhanced by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns's marvelous
Jazz: The History of America's Music,
companion volume to the magnificent 2001 Burns documentary series, which I watched avidly. Also very helpful was Gary Giddins's
Visions of Jazz: The First Century.
These books—along with much earnest listening to the many dazzling stars who played Harlem halls and clubs in the era of
Strivers Row—
gave me some rough foundation in the medium. Any and all gaffes are my own.

My descriptions of the old dream books were drawn from the fantastic collection still beautifully preserved at the New York Public Library's main research branch, at 42nd Street—and by their emaciated descendants, still available at the counters of many newspaper stands in New York to this day.

The Ephemera Press's map and self-guided walking tour,
Harlem Renaissance: One Hundred Years of History, Art, and Culture
, text by Marc H. Miller, illustrations by Tony Millionaire, design by Kevin Hein, proved very helpful in quickly pinpointing historic locations.

The background information for Malcolm's very real comic-book jones came from
Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books: The Definitive Illustrated History from the 1890s to the 1980s;
Richard A. Lupoff and Don Thompson's
All in Color for a Dime;
and Coulton Waugh's
The Comics.

I gleaned general information about Detroit mostly from Elaine Latzman's
Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community, 1918–1967,
and Arthur M. Woodford's
This Is Detroit: 1701–2001.

All of the movies mentioned were actually playing in Harlem or other Manhattan theaters at the time. I have watched the ones that were Malcolm's favorites, and I also learned a great deal about
I Walked with a Zombie
from Martin Scorsese's documentary commentary on the film.

I would very much like to thank Steve Fabian for the day he spent taking me around the haunts of his old Harlem childhood. I came to know Steve through the good offices of Bonnie Claeson and Joseph Guglielmelli, the delightful owners of one of Manhattan's best independent bookstores, The Black Orchid, where I have spent many a convivial evening.

I would also like to thank my good friends, Dr. Mana LumumbaKasongo, and Milton Allimadi, for getting my lazy old self up to the Abyssinian Baptist Church on Sunday morning; as well as my friend, and my brother-in-law's longtime legal colleague, Earl Ward, for showing me around his Strivers Row home; Melissa Jones, for filling me in on typical barber supplies of the 1930s; my wonderful German translator—also a great writer and a cracker-jack gardener in her own right—Ingrid Krane-Mueschen, and Randy and all the guys down at Embassy Florist, on Broadway and 91st Street, for all their help concerning “false jasmine” and altar flowers; the teachers of the Sunday school at The Presbyterian Church at Tenafly, for giving me my first Revised Standard Version Bible, which they will be happy to know is still in use; and my friend, Melanie Thernstrom, for lending me her very helpful, New Oxford Annotated Bible, which I swear I will return to her one of these days.

My wife, Ellen Abrams, has been unwavering in her support and encouragement, as always, through the often-trying times of this project. I love her, and thank her once more for her confidence, her faith, her love, and her boundless affection.

My mother, Claire S. Baker, originally told me about the Collyer brothers years ago, during an admonitory tale intended to get me to clean up my room. Didn't work. She also gave me the love, and the care, attention, and security to accomplish all that I have in this life. I only hope that I can give some of it back in the days ahead. My sister, Pamela Baker, and her husband, Mark Kapsch, have been absolute rocks during what has been a difficult time for our family. They have all my love and respect.

My friend and agent, Henry Dunow, has been as always a steady source of comfort and assistance, even calling from New Zealand to tell me how much he liked this book. At the same time, he did not waver in pointing out what needed to be improved, and I hope that I can always count on his frank advice and intelligence. I would also like to thank everyone else at his thriving, steadily expanding DCL Agency, a growing force of nature.

At HarperCollins, my friend and longtime editor, Dan Conaway, rose above and beyond the call of duty—as usual!—by insisting on finishing the first edit of
Strivers Row,
even though he had already taken another position elsewhere. It was a typically classy gesture. Dan's place was taken by the remarkable Jill Schwartzman, who soon proved herself to be the Mariano Rivera of relief editors, and a terrific friend, as well. I would like to thank everyone at HarperCollins for all their help during what has been a very rewarding and enjoyable relationship during the publication of this whole trilogy of books, particularly Jonathan Burnham, my publicist Marie-Elena Martinez, and Josh Marwell. You guys are the best.

In previous acknowledgments, I have thanked all of my extended family, and the many good friends and professional colleagues I have been lucky enough to have in my life. That goes double for all of you! Some of those I neglected to mention before, or that I have gotten to know only over the past four years, include Heather “Smart Bomb” Chaplin and Aaron Ruby; Darin “Rot” Strauss and Susannah “I Wouldn't Read It” Meadows; Pamela Talese and Michael Sandlin; David Lipsky and Grace; Gillian Mackenzie and Andrew Miller (despite their taste in ball teams); Nicholas Dawidoff and Rebecca “T.L.S.” Carman; Lili Schwartz and Ben Agronick; the rediscovered Angela Bonavoglia and Andrea Pedolsky; Dani Shapiro and Michael Maren; Heather Juergensen, Kevin Hench, and the rest of the valiant Ice House Gang; the e-mailers, Peter Moore, Mary “Tee” Nelson, Bob “Big Unit” Altman, and John Armstrong; Douglas “Sky Pilot” Kelley; the newlyweds, Josh and Laura; Richard Snow and Fred Allen, at American Heritage; Frank and Malachi McCourt; Thomas Fleming; Jonathan Mahler and Danielle Mattoon; Constance Rosenblum and Frank Flaherty, at the City section; and all of the next generation—Zoe, Julian, and Griffin; my redoubtable goddaughter, Ann Elizabeth Tarpley Hitt, and Steve's redoubtable goddaughter, Clara Pringle Yancey Hitt; my godson, Teddy Spelman; his long-suffering older brother, Gus; Sadie Ray; Samuel Ellis; Jacob, Gus Mahler, Miles, and of course, the great Niki Bear, with love from your Uncle Shaggy.

P
RAISE FOR
Strivers Row

“Kevin Baker plunges audaciously into the world of Harlem in the early 1940s to imagine the lives of two African-American men. . . . Baker has written a brave, honorable work, taking us into a vanished world that should be better known. More important, he imagines his human subjects with a sense of pity and compassion and embrace, thus making them visible in ways that are fresh and new.”

—
New York Times Book Review

“Nobody makes historical fiction burn like Kevin Baker.”

—
Washington Post

“Baker skillfully roots his dense, ambitious, at times transcendent story with meticulous research and brings to vibrant life a notable chapter in New York City history.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“Daring. . . . [Baker is] the best writer of historical fiction currently practicing. . . . Baker's novels are filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of worlds that produce real people who make history.”

—
Los Angeles Times

“Baker builds in clever reversals and echoings of themes and events between his main story lines, in prose that can drift into powerful and moving riffs and scenes. . . . Plot surprises aside, his descriptive flair and empathy for his characters is what shines most brightly.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Charged with the energy, indignation, and yearning of Harlem, the novel sings. [Baker] tackles a list of dramatic personae so extensive that it rivals those of Dickens.”

—
Time Out
(New York)

“Ambitious [and] well researched.”

—
USA Today

“It is a pretty gutsy move for a white guy to write such a black book . . . a masterful blend of fact and fiction. It's this blend, using the fiction to highlight and underscore the fact, that makes
Strivers Row
an addictive and enlightening read.”

—
Denver Post

“An ambitious, cinematic tale. . . . Kevin Baker is a rare talent.”

—
Boston Globe

“
Strivers Row
is vivid and engaging, even thrilling . . . [and] overall illuminates wartime Harlem with both impressive sweep and backstreet detail.”

—
Dallas Morning News

“Kevin Baker has made a career as a master researcher, and
Strivers Row
brims with period detail and vividly imagined chance encounters between crucial figures.”

—
Chicago Sun-Times

“Kevin Baker, the lit world's sharpest chronicler of New York's past, scores again.”

—
Rolling Stone

“Transporting. . . . Baker's evocation of old Harlem is intoxicating and jam-packed with colorful details.”

—“Washington Post Media Mix”

“Intense and fascinating.”

—
Daily News

“Genius. . . . [As] sprawling, chaotic, noisy, and intriguing as its setting, New York City.”

—
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“A grand historical drama . . . captivating . . . the novel comes fully alive, rife with possibilities.”

—
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Readers will find themselves swept up in the power of Baker's strong prose and meticulously detailed re-creations.”

—
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“[A] fine new novel.”

—
Christian Science Monitor

“As both a historical treatise and an emphatic portrait of a pivotal black figure in American history, Baker's concluding volume in his masterful trilogy succeeds on every level. . . . Baker's kaleidoscopic evocation of Harlem . . . bursts from every page, as vivid to the reader as an exhibit of photographs.”

—
BookPage

“Baker's writing is lovely and lyrical. Moreover, his research on ‘the forgotten black history of New York City' is so riveting and evocative that you'll race to turn the pages.”

—
The State
(Columbia, South Carolina)

“Unforgettable.” —Bookreporter.com

“Engaging. . . . [Baker] thoroughly captures the figures . . . and micropolitical climate of wartime Harlem . . . [and] lends the resulting fray a visceral reality.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Compelling . . . intricate . . . gripping. . . . [Baker writes] with considerable historical knowledge and narrative fluidity.”

—
Booklist
(starred review)

“A penetrating look at World War II–era Harlem. . . . Baker's novel turns an icon into a living, breathing character full of contradiction and desperation.”

—
Library Journal

“Kevin Baker follows on his recent home runs,
Dreamland
and
Paradise Alley
, with this moon-shot grand slam. Baker, historical fiction's all-pro player, has MVP tools: this star historian and genius novelist combines fact and imagination with a rigor and flair we haven't seen before.
Strivers Row
is a good reader's dream novel, a wondrous re-creation of a magic time in America, and a towering monument to a great man's early life.”

—Darin Strauss, author of
Chang and Eng
and
The Real McCoy

“Kevin Baker brilliantly captures the historical, social, and psychological refractions of race prejudice—and race consciousness—in his hypnotic new novel.
Strivers Row
is a gripping tour de force that catapults us back in time to 1940s Harlem and makes us think about what it means to be a black man of action, of principle, and of faith in our country.”

—Tom Reiss, author of
The Orientalist

“If the city of New York had any sense, they'd install a ticket taker in front of Kevin Baker and open him up for business as a cultural attraction. He doesn't just know old New York, the man has re-created the biggest town in uncanny and vivid miniature— something that will be apparent to anyone fortunate enough to warm himself within Baker's City of Fire.”

—Nicholas Dawidoff, author of
The Catcher Was a Spy

“Kevin Baker has taken another slice of New York's turbulent history and turned it into a riveting novel. No reader will ever forget 1943 Harlem as seen through the eyes of the most mesmerizing character Baker has yet created: Malcolm Little—on his way to becoming Malcolm X.”

—Thomas Fleming, author of
Mysteries of My Father

Books by Kevin Baker

Paradise Alley
Dreamland
Sometimes You See It Coming

Credits

Jacket Design by Gregg Kulick
Cover Photograph by Henri Cartier-Breeson/Magnum Photos