Troublemaker

“Packed with amazing life stories … . [A] fascinating book.” — NPR’s “Fresh Air”“Kaplan always writes from inside her characters, and with a novelist’s sense of scope—and compassion.” — Hilton Als, The New Yorker“[A] remarkable work of historical recovery … full of fresh discoveries.” — New York Times Book Review“An empathetic and skillful writer, Kaplan … shares the previously untold story of a group of notable white women who embraced black culture—and life—in Harlem in the 1920s and ‘30s… . Captivating.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Kaplan’s meticulously documented and intrepid history of Miss Anne encompasses a unique vantage on the complexities of race and gender and a dramatic study in paradox.” — Booklist (starred review)“Richly researched … thoughtful.” — Boston Globe“[A] clear-sighted, empathetic assessment. [Kaplan] delivers a wonderfully complex series of portraits.” — Daily Beast“An intriguing slice of long-overlooked American history.” — Christian Science Monitor

Carla Kaplan is an award-winning professor and writer who holds the Stanton W. and Elisabeth K. Davis Distinguished Professorship in American Literature at Northeastern University. She is the author of The Erotics of Talk and Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters. A recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, Kaplan has been a fellow in residence at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the W. E. B. DuBois Institute and is a fellow of the Society of American Historians.