I won this ARC from the publisher via LibraryThing for my honest review.

This time period in which the civil rights movement began to change social norms, also created an exodus of whites to the suburbs. This is a a slow read with a plethora of footnotes, that represents a deluge of research. At times I had trouble understanding what the author was quoting or saying in the literature or letters of correspondence between Hansberry and acquaintances. As stated by the author; She was a partner in Hansberry Enterprises and a part owner of slums, which would eventually cause her unhappiness and embarrassment. Lorraine came from a family poised of exceptionally educated and upper middle class respectable people who believed in self-help. I was very surprised at the dealings of Lorraine’s father, Carl Hansberry, being a landlord in the black belt crippled its community, by raising rent and chopping up the rooms, and doing away with the upkeep. However, his efforts to make additional housing was commendable, but this led to a court trial of possession of property by misuse of the law. The court case of Hansberry v. Lee was settled in a Supreme Court ruling.

I became bored at times with the communist activities and was emotional about the racism and segregation. The facts and research that Shields put into writing this book is outstanding, but very thesis in nature and less frankly written. Overall, it has a very sound textbook like feel.

It was interesting to read about Lorraine’s self-exile from Chicago to escape the reign and fines under Mayor Daley’s administration, charging the Hansberry’s as slum lords.

As Shields wrote, Her aim was to depict the humanity of the people under an economic system she wanted to overturn, capitalism, to replace it with socialism. Hansberry wrapped her ideology inside an engaging story. Charles Shields presents Lorraine Hansberry as a celebrity and a compassionate thinker in her own right. He gives the reader the inside view of her relationship with her husband, Bob Nemiroff, activism, and artist. Her friendships with the renaissance era of writers and thinkers, such as James Baldwin, and Alain Locke.

The description of how the play was reviewed by critics while at the restaurant Sardis, was descriptive and eventful. As a reader, I felt like I was amongst the crowd anticipating a reading. Today, the National Theater lists A Raisin in the Sun as one of the one hundred most significant works of the twentieth century.

“…I believe that white people are dreadfully ignorant of Negro life in America.”
- Lorraine Hansberry.

This is a profound statement that rings true in this day and time, 2022. Overall I found this book a great read and I highly recommend it. At the time of this reading, I have not seen the play in its entirety, nor had I read the book. I've since purchased two books to read in her honor. Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays, A Raisin In The Sun/The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. ( )

Although this book has its points of interest, they are not consistent enough. Thus I find it difficult to keep, up ,my interest long enough to finish this book. I'm giving it three stars because some might find it interesting enough to keep reading... but over all it is not for me. There are too many books out there that I find more interesting. DNF. Yes, I know I'm late with the review but it really was supposed to be for Early Reviewers. ( )

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun is a fascinating biography of a fascinating woman.

I knew of Hansberry as a great writer but this book also shows her as a brilliant woman and committed activist. Writing at the height of Jim Crow in the South of the United States as well as rampant racism in the Northern states (often resulting in being trapped in the kind of poverty we see in Raisin in the Sun--as well as barriers to both mobility and housing choices), Hansberry depicts the struggles of black people with clarity and compassion.

Shields presents a picture of Hansberry's family as a conservative, affluent, and established family living in Chicago. Her father was a successful businessman--a slum landlord who lived a life that was in many ways the opposite of what his daughter chose. Lorraine was raised to be a "proper" lady but lived a very different kind of life than her parents had wanted for her.

Shields writes not only of Hansberry's life but the artistic and political milieu she lived in. Close friends with writer James Baldwin, Hansberry spent her tragically short life protesting the racism of the world she lived in.

Shields presents a thorough (and well researched) portrait of Hansberry as woman and writer as well as an absorbing picture of the times and places in which she lived.

My only complaint is that at times, I found Shield's writing to be dense and somewhat turgid although the work of reading it paid off in the information learned.

Hansberry is one of the great writers of the United States as well as a committed activist. Her early death from cancer is a tragic loss for all of us.

I won this book from Library.Thing but my opinion of it is strictly my own. ( )

This book is far different, or at least the subject, Ms. Hansberry is, than I would have thought. All these years, I knew the Poitier film, the Broadway musical, but I did not know the author of the play those sprang from. So glad I won this book and could read about her life and how the play came to be. ( )

This was a very exhaustive memoir about a very interesting and complicated woman. I had recently read The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation which referenced the Hansberry family frequently, and was excited at having won a copy of this book on LTER to get more information about their relationship with Chicago and desegregation efforts. Imagine my surprise at realizing that the Hansberry family's buy-in to capitalism essentially exploited and oppressed black renters so that they could move up into the middle class. Meanwhile they still got segregated against by the white establishment. What a complicated legacy.

But this book isn't really about the Hansberry family as much as it is about one particular Hansberry: Lorraine. She lived a fascinating but short life. Communist, playwright, lesbian, wife. It was interesting to read about her radical history, and I agreed the entire time with the author in that she never really risked much: her status in life, her money, her privilege, for a better world. (Easy for me to say, though, I was not alive in the 1950s. I can be an out lesbian without worrying about losing my job.)

While the book was very interesting, I found that it was way too long. Lorraine lived a short 35 years, and this book is nearly 300 pages long. What else is there to say? The author narrates practically every day of Lorraine's existence. It gets really dull after a while, and I found myself reading other books in the meantime to keep myself interested in the act of reading. I would pick this one up before bed to help me sleep. It took me a long time to finally finish.

Recommended if you're interested in the life and legacy of a complicated woman and her family, and if you don't get bored easily. ( )