Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun

by Charles J. Shields

The moving story of the life of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

Written when she was just twenty-eight, Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark A Raisin in the Sun is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the twentieth century. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics’ Circle Award.

Charles J. Shields’s authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century’s most admired playwrights examines the parts of Lorraine Hansberry’s life that have escaped public knowledge: the influence of her upper-class background, her fight for peace and nuclear disarmament, the reason why she embraced Communism during the Cold War, and her dependence on her white husband—her best friend, critic, and promoter. Many of the identity issues about class, sexuality, and race that she struggled with are relevant and urgent today.

This dramatic telling of a passionate life—a very American life through self-reinvention—uses previously unpublished interviews with close friends in politics and theater, privately held correspondence, and deep research to reconcile old mysteries and raise new questions about a life not fully described until now.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Drama, Memoir, African American, School

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2022

About the author

Charles J. Shields is the author of And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life (Henry Holt & Co.), Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (Holt), the highly acclaimed, bestselling biography of Harper Lee,I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers), and The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life (University of Texas Press).

In January 2022, Henry Holt will release Shields' new book, Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind 'A Raisin in the Sun,' the most comprehensive biography of, in James Baldwin’s words, this “very young woman, with an overpowering vision.”

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin In The Sun (2022) captures the story of Lorraine Hansberry as never before. Hansberry rose to celebrity acclaim with her award-winning Broadway play “A Raisin In The Sun” (1959). This superb incisive narrative is written by Charles J, Shields, the multi-award- winning NYT bestselling biographer of Harper Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, John Edward Williams and others. Shields is the co-founder of Biographers International Organization (est. 2009-) that promotes the biographical arts and studies.

Lorraine Hansberry (1930-65) was the youngest of four children raised in a Chicago middle-higher income family. Lorraine’s college educated parents were both professionally and politically connected, her father had once campaigned (unsuccessfully) for public office. With a tendency to romanticize poverty, culture shock was evident as Lorraine arrived in Harlem after finishing college to live near “her people” (1950’s). Harlem was the largest community of black Americans in the nation, 87,000 migrants had arrived from the American South (1920-30) and thousands of people lived on single city blocks.
Lorraine was hired as the associate editor of “Freedom” the first black American newspaper in the United States (est.1951-55). As a “warrior” Lorraine opposed all forms of racism and discrimination against black Americans while supporting socialism related to Communism and Marxist ideology. McCarthyism and the “Red Scare” fear gripped the nation (1950-55). Lorraine, a bold outspoken activist at demonstrations and rallies (FBI agents were visibly writing down car license plate numbers) and was closely monitored by the FBI. Shields explains why so many lost reputations and jobs and noted the impact on Lorraine’s life.
A highly serious couple, Lorraine and her white Jewish intellectual husband Bob Nemiroff (m.1953-64) didn’t think twice about attending a candlelight vigil following the historic Rosenthal Execution on the eve of their wedding. Lorraine flourished under Bob’s guidance, he encouraged her to reach for her highest potential in writing and the arts at all times and remained her most significant and closest mentor/collaborator throughout her life.
Bob’s dedication to Lorraine included a full acceptance of the complexities of her sexual preference/orientation which sealed his unconditional love for her. Thankfully, Shields avoided over analyzing Lorraine’s experimental writing for “The Ladder” (the first national lesbian publication). A chapter was called “The Invisible Lesbian”— Lorraine knew how to conduct herself in an oppressive racist and homophobic society and living an authentic life would become most important her. It was here that readers gained additional insight and understanding of Lorraine and Bob’s unconventional marriage/relationship.
Lorraine didn’t live that far from the black feminist poet Audre Lorde (1934-92) though never met her. Other than Bob, her closest friend was the iconic author/critic James Baldwin (1924-87). Lorraine disagreed with his positive viewpoint of Malcolm X and felt the Nation of Islam too closely identified with black nationalism. Lorraine was highly critical of Norman Mailer’s essay, “The White Negro” and felt the popular Beats Movement was “nothingism” without direction or purpose. When invited by Bob’s friends to an art gallery featuring Abstract Expressionism, Lorraine rudely made disparaging remarks about the art pieces and was “curtly” told to shut-up. Due to her Marxist beliefs, she felt that artistic expression must have a value to society.

This is the third significant Hansberry biography released since 2018, and it is impressive the way Shields avoided the rehashing of previous material. Bob’s influence on Lorraine’s work was obvious, a biographical theme illustrated the blending of Lorraine and Bob’s artistic temperaments and creative gifts that fostered their extraordinary success in their life and careers. Robert Nemiroff (1929-91) spent a large portion of his life preserving Lorraine’s legacy. **With thanks to Henry Holt via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading this biography I watched the movie A Raisin in the Sun. It’s a powerful movie, with fantastic performances. Little wonder that it is one of the 20th c most beloved plays that has moved people from all walks of life.

I had images from the movie in mind as I went into the book, the kitchenette apartment with its one window, the grandson sleeping on a couch. Lorraine Hansberry’s father made his fortune turning apartment buildings and old hotels into kitchenette apartments which he rented to working class African Americans in Chicago. In effect, he was a slum lord. There were no private bathrooms, often heating and plumbing problems, and riddled with vermin. The business afforded Lorraine a comfortable life and the chance for higher education. What is surprising is that Lorraine was a communist in ideology, while profiting from capitalism.

Lorraine was twenty-eight when her play A Raisin in the Sun was produced. Within a few years she had died from pancreatic cancer. She had achieved a respectable status as a writer and political and social leader. She had an adoring, if romantically estranged husband, and a series of female lovers. She was a complicated personality.

Charles J. Shields biography presents Hansberry in all her glory and inconsistencies, from Chicago’s southside to Harlem and Greenwich Village, as an activist and an artist. Her story brings to life her time.

It’s a marvelous biography. Hansberry accomplished so much in her brief life. She was constantly evolving, and we can only imagine what more she would have accomplished had she been granted a longer life.

I previous read Shield’s biography The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life.

I won an ARC from the publisher through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J Shields is an engrossing biography of a very interesting woman. Excellent as both a biography and a page-turner narrative.

My initial interest in this book was simply wanting to know something about the writer of such an important work of the American theater. I often read biographies without a great expectation of becoming wrapped up in the book itself, even if I enjoy being wrapped in the subject's life. This book was enjoyable as well as giving me the insight into Hansberry's life I was hoping for. I realize that makes it sound like I set a low bar for biographies but it has more to do with what I want from them, namely information. When I get that information in a well written narrative, I consider it a plus.

Like many creative types from the middle of the last century there is a great deal of both the usual finding oneself personally as well as negotiating, internally and in the world, the contradictions of society. I found it fascinating to follow her life story as events helped lead her through her decisions and as her thinking developed on so many issues. Brought together these things became powerful art.

I would recommend this to those interested in mid-twentieth century intellectual life and those who simply enjoy a good biography. For those in the theater, this book will offer some background that will likely enrich your next reading/performance of A Raisin in the Sun.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J. Shields 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.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embracing Her Stars, Choosing Her Own Dreams

We know Lorraine's pivitol work as A Raisin in the Sun, which premiered March 11, 1959 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on West Forty-Seventh Street (I've only personally seen the movie format.) But the play is merely the pinnacle of her larger life role as a spokesperson for integration, housing, black families, social reform, and theater. From the new work presented here in Mr. Shield's biography, I am struck by the realization that Mrs. Hansberry built this monumental work from within the story of her own life. Because she died at such a young age, what would have been the beginning of a life in activism became the point where she met her stars. It is a hugely impactful work, despite its brevity and her brief life.

"The acceptance of our condition is the only form of extremism which discredits us before our children."

At war with her own time and culture, Lorraine was continually reaching into herself to identify the elements of her ideas that she wanted to present. A work of personal evolution and reinvention; she had to choose which roles she would fulfill. Her life was an intersection of the black and female experiences in the United States in the middle of the Twentieth Century, with an overlapping of race, class, sexuality, and gender. She also had to choose which closets to not open.

"... she had 'felt diminished and destroyed by the real estate powers in Chicago,' and she blamed them for her father's death. A Raisin in the Sun was her wish for her brother Perry, the more entrepreneurial of the two brothers, to have a better life than their father."

I was unaware of her own family's experience and the work of her father before reading the book, so naturally that early part has a huge impact on the reader. The author handles all of that responsibly, while building up later to the effect it had on Lorraine leading up to production of A Raisin in the Sun.

"Hansberry v Lee had created a chink in the 'delicately woven chain of armor' of covenants covering 80% of Chicagoland."

"This is one of the things that the American experience has meant to Negroes: we are one people."

The author does not skimp on culture. Many of the topics covered here in this nice hardback edition with photographs from Barnes & Nobles include:
--Writers like Du Bois and the many authors of the Harlem Renaissance: such as Langston Hughes, Alan Locke, William Waring Cuney, and Countee Cullen;
--The Postwar development in New York theater: the energies of the Little Theatre movement of the 20s and 30s were finding renewal on Off-broadway stages, especially in the playhouses of Greenwich Village: such as August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Gwendolyn Brooks' Kitchenette Building (1945) Douglas Turner Ward's The Trial of Willie McGee, George Tabori's The Emperor's New Clothes (1953), William Branch's In Splendid Error (1954), and Alice Children's Trouble in Mind (1955),
--The Calypso Craze: with the likes of Harry Belafonte, a Harlem-born actor Calypso was a new guise for an old character: Jim Crow in a Caribbean mask. Maya Angelou's Miss Calypso of Calypso Heat Wave more popular than Elvis & Rock & Roll.

"I can't really allow the limitations of white supremacist thinking to condition my attitude toward life. That would strangle me to death."

"... Hansberry had rendered the pathology of racism and Walter Lee's moral rise in spite of it. Where they met, as an audience, was in agreeing that injustice is recognizable and requires good people to act."

Lorraine Hansberry blended art forms in Raisin in the Sun. In her art, she divided between dialect and vernacular, biology and culture, and she emphasized a positive life view. I like to think that her life was squeezed out to the last drop into her work. One leaves this book with the impression that it is with great reason her work is so widely valued around the world, for that of such a brief stay under the sun.

"Which part of yourself will you drive into the sea?"

"She believes that the racial quality is completely irrelevant..."

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Holt & Co for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I taught 8th grade, I always had students read A Raisin in the Sun. The students loved the characters and their story. However, I confess that my own knowledge of Lorraine Hansberry was limited. This biography changed that for me!

I loved how Shields began with her father and established him in Chicago. His job and personality helped set the stage for how Lorraine's family would be structured. I understand her more now as a playwright because I've learned her story. I also enjoyed how much he delved into her personal life, even the hidden pieces. These two aspects really helped define how she wrote and why she wrote.

She died tragically young from pancreatic cancer. I cannot help but wonder what she would be doing today. Well worth the read!

[Lillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an example of a meticulously researched biography of a woman by a man who has NO clue of what the woman is about. A pitfall for many biographers, this author has overlaid onto the story as well his own personal agenda.
Not recommended . . .

[Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bestselling author Charles J. Shields takes a sage and scholarly look at the life of playwright, activist and feminist Lorraine Hansberry. Her powerful intellect and innate sensitivities enabled her to overcome many of the barriers confronting her because of her race and gender.

Born to upwardly mobile, well-educated Black parents, Hansberry’s childhood was unusual, as her father Carl challenged and famously won a case involving his development of a Black apartment building in a white neighborhood. Although its desired result was the further enrichment of the family, the victory also served as a warning bell to the establishment for the changing times --- times in which a young Hansberry, who was quiet, studious and introverted, would play a signature role.

Writing became her passion, along with a growing realization of the differing ways she was treated by the white establishment. As she blossomed, she won people over with her warmth and was even assigned a room in Langdon Manor, a prestigious dorm facility at the University of Wisconsin.

After being immersed in arts-focused academia for two years, Hansberry set out on her own path. This would involve the embrace of Communism as a possible way up for American Blacks trapped in poverty with whom she identified, despite having a charmed childhood where she never had to want for anything. She explored Harlem, plunged into the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, enjoyed lovers both male and female, and married Jewish writer and leftist activist Robert Nemiroff, giving her another phase of education regarding the acceptance (or non-acceptance) of interracial relationships.

With Nemiroff’s encouragement, Hansberry composed the work that would make her famous: “A Raisin in the Sun.” The play opened in 1959 and later became a film; starring Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, it centered on a Black family struggling to survive in a Chicago slum. Her fame well established, she began to be plagued by medical issues that led to her early death.

Shields has composed a remarkable work, his dedication to its central character depicted in intimate, almost daily vignettes. He has mined Hansberry’s personal papers and interviews with her friends and colleagues to create a dynamic picture of someone battling with multiple obstacles at a time when her views were radical, even among those of her own race.

A meeting in 1963 with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss his brother’s handling of racial issues highlight Hansberry’s unconventional wisdom. She predicted that such policies, propounded by “the best that white America can offer,” would ultimately lead to “our going in the streets…and chaos.” Her sentiments were always for the underdog, regardless of color, which separated her just slightly from many of the more liberal spokespeople of her era.

Shields gives readers the total picture, revealing Hansberry to be a thoughtful, often humorous and thoroughly human figure who chose to use her considerable artistic gifts to educate and touch the hearts of a wide, appreciative audience.

Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t just a biography of Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, it’s also an in-depth look into the social and political climate that influenced her work. It covers the emerging civil rights movement, the arms race, the rigid lifestyle mores of the era, as well as her family’s background as Chicago – sorry, there’s no other word for it - slumlords. And it raises the possibility that a ‘50s pop song also played a role by giving her the financial freedom to pursue her writing. So much of Hansberry’s life was not at all as I’d imagined it would be and that’s a good part of what made this biography so interesting. Also, despite being academic in tone, it’s wonderfully readable, it flows like well-written biographical fiction.

My thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the publisher for an advance copy to review.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Lorraine Hansberry lived only 34 years, her play A Raisin in The Sun has had a lasting impact on the American theatre. In Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J. Shields, the author chronicles the life of the playwright and activist. Called “the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage,” students across America were led to believe that Hansberry based her famous play on her own life. Well, she did, kind of.

Actually, her father Carl Hansberry was a bit of a scoundrel. Yes, the Hansberrys were not welcome in a white neighborhood, but they had their real home in a black neighborhood, while they masqueraded in this second home. This episode was part of a scheme to drive whites away so Carl could purchase property cheaply and could start chopping up floors, turning apartments into one-room “kitchenettes” to make more money for the landlord, which eventually he became. About 10% of the book covers his moneymaking slumlord schemes, which projected the Hansberrys into the middle class. He also became so enamored with suing other folks that the Chicago branch of the NAACP began backing away from him after he threatened to sue Goldblatt’s department stores.

No doubt legitimate Raisin stories happened due to restrictive covenants designed to keep black homeowners out of white neighborhoods, but Raisin was not truly the Hansberry situation. The wealth generated with Hansberry Sr.’s property speculation schemes enabled the lifestyle that Lorraine was able to enjoy including some college attendance and a regular check from her widowed mother to help support Lorraine’s New York City lifestyle. Besides playwriting, she kept her day job writing for and performed a number of other duties for a newspaper called Freedom.

The biography broadens the scope of Lorraine’s life from the sliver as playwright that students in America learned when studying Raisin to all her activities in social causes. She campaigned for Progressive Party candidate Henry A. Wallace and had close Communist ties, which caused J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to keep an eye on her for fear she would become, “in the language of counterintelligence, a ‘present danger.’” By the end of her short life, Lorraine would have thousands of pages in her FBI dossier.

Regarding her personal life, Shields takes a hard look at the man Lorraine married, Bobby Nemiroff, a Jewish-Russian activist, a Communist card-carrying one. Shields described their marriage as a codependency. He was Lorraine’s best friend, her critic, and her promoter. They would remain tied even after their divorce, and he went on to manage her estate after her death.

Charles J. Shields is the author of two authoritative biographies about Harper Lee, one for adults, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, and for young readers, I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee. I enjoyed them both. He is known for his well-documented biographies.

While the author has done a tremendous amount of research to create this comprehensive biography, I have to admit that I did not enjoy learning so many negative aspects of her life. Raisin is my favorite play, and I am just devastated to learn that the playwright was not a very nice person. I hope this review reflects that he did an excellent job in the writing, but I eventually lost interest in the story because I was disappointed in how she lived her life, thus the 2 stars is my personal response.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 16, 2021.

I would like to thank Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

[Lady Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am rounding up from a 2.5
This book and production was okay, there was so many problems in the book that were just left unresolved. But it didn't yet reach the point of being cliffhangers. It felt very anticlimactic.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always heard about book and movie. I'm glad I read this although late. Now I will find movie. Excellent read and I'm sure it gave the people that read and or saw the movie appreciation of the plights of racism. A small view but a view.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the Lorraine Hansberry bio to be solid, a bit workmanlike, with not much illumination, except that I imagine that her husband Robert Nemiroff was a right shit and that her family's involvement in slum real estate in Chicago was even more complicated than it appears. I wouldn't have minded a little editorializing on the part of the biographer Charles Shields one bit.

That said, it was informative and interesting. Just not compelling.

I received this as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. I'd give it another half star if I could.

[Kimberly Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with family Hansberry's family history, going back to her grandfather. At first, the information seems superfluous, but history influenced Hansberry's view of the world and thus her writing. Hansberry grew up in Chicago where her father built a real estate business as a landlord in with small kitchenette apartments. Red-lining prevented Hansberry from "legally" buying / occupying additional real estate in the more middle class part of the city. Mr. Hansberry's personal and legal fight against racist laws and the real perils of death threats to the family were part of her upbringing. Racism was not only inescapable, it was legislated.

At the University of Wisconsin, Lorraine studied both journalism and theater. Seeing the Irish play, "Juno and the Paycock". Hansberry saw a parallel between the play's Irish family's oppression and the oppression of American Black people.

The Progressive Party encapsulated the tenor of her ideals, and she became committed to it. Lorraine openly referred to herself as a Radical American.

In Harlem, Hansberry was peers with Langstone Hughes and James Baldwin (among others). Her creativity and need to write only became stronger. It was there that Hansberry penned the play, "A Raisin in the Sun". She had permission from Langstone Hugues to use the line from Langstone's poem, “What is to happen to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Some personal stories of Hansberry’s are only hinted at and not fleshed out. I choose to forgive this and applaud the author’s ability to portray the importance of Hansberry’s writing and the importance of outspoken politics of her time. Indeed, there is much work still to be done.

I was provided a galley of this book in return for an honest review.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love biographies. Real life is always more complex and dramatic than anything the imagination can dream up. My favorites are invariably those about writers or artists, so I was thrilled to receive this book from @henryholtbooks .

Lorraine Hansberry was the playwright behind A Raisin in the Sun, one of the most acclaimed works of the 20th century. A trailblazer, she was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway. Written at the young age of 28, Hansberry created one of the seminal works in theater history.

In this biography Shields examines how her upper class background shaped and influenced her. It delves into her interracial marriage- how in spite of having accomplished so much she had a surprising dependence on her husband. Even after their divorce he was the single most important influence her life. The book spends a lot of time focusing on her politics. Hansberry embraced Communism and became an avid political activist and was surveiled by the FBI.

I thoroughly enjoyed this biography. It did a wonderful job of covering every aspect of this talented and complex woman’s life until her tragic and too early death at the age of thirty four from pancreatic cancer. I appreciate that Shields gave us a complete portrait of this fascinating woman. He does not try to turn her into a paragon of virtue, but instead gives us an unflinchingly honest portrayal of a woman of brilliance who was both captivating and flawed.

I loved A Raisin in the Sun when I read it in college but I knew nothing about Hansberry. This book makes me want to go back and reread it. I imagine it will now have a deeper meaning for me after learning so much about this dynamic woman.

[Diana Winslow MSW ACSW · Rating 5 out of 5]

I certainly learned quite a few things I didn't know about Ms. Hansberry. It's always interesting to me what things people naturally gravitate to and then what things they heavily pursue, not to mention the coincidence of time and place bring to them and then their work. I don't know that I'd call it a page turner, but the energy is varied and undeniable. I had a friend who used to tell me about the Black bougeoise vs the high academic life and how that played out in her life. It's interesting to see some of that here. Which things pay off when life in an era is reinvented and stretching ? I'm glad to hear her voice clearly. She's one of those writers you hope they find some unpublished remaining work or fragments and then craft it into some hybrid that continues the legacy. One of the things about Ms. Hansberry's life that really struck me was that core, clear information about her terminal health problems was witheld from her. That so different from what she seemed to want to extract from life herself and about others. I do see that in time and place it wasn't so unusual. I also see her experiences as a person who was sexually ambidextrous and also so in so many ways was the rest of her life. Hmm. I am glad I had the chance to drink this in.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive and approachable biography for an iconic American author.

Speaking as someone who never knew much about Lorraine Hansberry, I found this biography really easy to follow. I haven't read many of her works, nor did I know much about Hansberry in the first place. In spite of that, Charles J. Shields does a great job of bringing out the threads of Hansberry's life, from her early childhood to her all-too-early demise. I particularly appreciated how Shields struck a manageable balance between following Hansberry's life chronologically and giving a broader, slightly retrospective view of certain moments of Hansberry's life in light of her whole life and career.

If you're looking to read some of Hansberry's work or would like to learn more about her as an author you've recently tried, then this is a great starting point. Also recommended for anyone looking to learn more about literature & life (as experienced by Hansberry and her close acquaintances) during the civil rights movement.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co. for giving me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I found Lorraine Hansberry's life fascinating, I am appalled at the White, male author's insertion of his own opinion and perspective into his telling of the life of a Black, lesbian woman who grew up on the south side of Chicago. Barely 5 pages are devoted to her falling ill and her death. Her husband's coattail riding and exploitation of Lorraine's celebrity after her death is acknowledged but not analyzed. The author spends more time disparaging Isabel Wilkerson and other contemporary writers. He also criticizes previous biographers for their own assessment of Lorraine's motivations. I do not trust the biographer, and that is a shame. In her short life, Lorraine lived fully. It is unfortunate that my introduction to her is flawed.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex biography of a woman of contradictions. She was an activist and the playwright of "Raisin in the Sun" which broke barriers and changed the way Black people were portrayed in theater. The writings was occasionally clunky but the information was great. The ending felt a bit abrupt. A change in the last few sentences would have made a huge difference. Thanks to LibraryThing and the Publisher for an advance review copy.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just completed reading Charles J. Shields' biography of playwright/journalist Lorraine Hansberry; what a fascinating book it is too. When I began reading it, I chiefly knew of Ms. Hansberry as having written the play "A Raisin in the Sun" but did not know much about her life and times. I thus found Mr. Shields' biography really quite interesting.

On my first attempt reading the book I had to put it aside at the beginning due to the account of Ms. Hansberry's father's history, activities and business in Chicago's south side (he was what in today's world would be considered a slum lord or purveyor of substandard housing during the 1950s-1960s which culminated in lawsuits and involvements with the Chicago city government of the time). Mr. Shields provides a vivid description concerning the real estate and political issues that impacted people of color in Chicago during this era and that is appreciated.

An account is given of Mr. Hansberry's father's personal history which fills in the blanks concerning decisions made by him which impacted his family including Ms. Hansberry herself. This was a family-owned business which survived the death of Mr. Hansberry via his spouse and children. Despite the controversy and lawsuits that came with the business the family benefited from it financially - but not emotionally.

Beyond her father and decisions made by him the description of the Hansberry family dynamics is provided and it is appreciated. It explains a great deal concerning decisions made by Ms. Hansberry as she became independent of her family and their choices made - among which resulted in controversy and ultimately surveillance by the FBI. Mr. Shields obtained copies of the records and utilized them here. Concerning her corporate involvement with the business I was surprised that she remained involved with it. Once "Raisin in the Sun" went into successful production Ms. Hansberry attempted to get out of the family-owned business but due to a final lawsuit she was unable to extricate herself from it. This was fairly close to the time that she became ill and died.

The subject of her marriage to Robert Nemiroff is taken on in detail here. Family members of her spouse contributed to the book perhaps from his second marriage.

Note: His decision not to inform Ms. Hansberry of her final and terminal illness from pancreatic cancer was unfortunately typical of that era but not today's. Evidently she was symptomatic for many years before being diagnosed.

Had Ms. Hansberry lived in today's world I think her lifestyle choices and political world views made would be approached with more tolerance than they were then. Unfortunately this did not happen in Ms. Hansberry's lifetime.

On a personal note, I would have loved to have seen Ms. Hansberry's appearance on Irv Kupcinet's Chicago-based television interview show. For those who would like to investigate further, the subject of independent not studio-based producer-director Otto Preminger (who appeared on that interview) and the black community of the time is covered in many sources - his own autobiography, subsequent biographies and biographies of those who knew him in various capacities. I will search for the Kupcinet interview.

Given these factors I revisited Mr. Shields' biography during the summer of 2023 and was glad that I did. Thank you for writing it, Mr. Shields. Excellent job, and it is highly recommended.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read Mr. Shields before and know him to be an exemplary biographer. He isn't afraid to speak the truth and not hide behind what he calls "continuity" for the sake of the narrative and it is that way of thinking that helps him with this biography of Lorraine Hansberry. I am sure there will be quite a few people who read this that will be surprised at what they find between the covers of this book. I was surprised at what I read, but most of that was because outside of knowing that she wrote "A Raisin in the Sun", I knew nothing else about Lorraine Hansberry and to be honest, what I read did not endear me to her. I found I didn't really like the woman who wrote one of the most titular plays in the American lexicon [one that moved me beyond measure when I first read it in High School - I had no idea that a play could evoke such emotions in a person and it has never left me]. She was a mass of contradictions [loved the middle class life, but also loved the idea of Marxism and communism, though she left those readily enough when they fell out of fashion; she loved her husband, but also loved women and had several relationships with them] and at time seems like not a very nice person [though once you read about her family and her slum-lord father, you will not be surprised that she is the way she was], though I doubt that knowing people didn't like her would have bothered her much - she didn't do what she did for popularity or admiration. The one person she truly wanted love and affection and adoration from was her husband Bob Nemiroff and he was never fully able to give that to her [what she got from him was a really crazy co-dependent relationship and was at time, completely controlled by him] and in the end, I liked him even less than she. What he does at the end of her life is nothing short of criminal in my way of thinking and how he handles things after her death is close to disgusting. It is no wonder most of her friends didn't like him.

Very well written and meticulously researched, this was a good book over-all [though it took me twelve days to read it - the chapters are massively long and I often got bored mid-chapter with a lot of the "fluff" that I just didn't find important - not that it wasn't, I just didn't see the point of it] and I cannot say her life wasn't interesting, from the beginning and right up to the end[even the parts I didn't agree with and the parts that completely baffled me] and it is a story that will absolutely stay with me, much like the play has for all these years.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charles J. Shields, and Henry Holt and Company for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun" published in 2022 is a most recent biography of the black American playwright and social critic; one of at least three biographies in print along with a biography suited for children.
At the age of 29, she "won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so." On January 12, 1965, the Chicago born Lorraine Hansberry died of pancreatic cancer.
She was 34 years old but Lorraine Hansberrry left behind a number of plays and commentary which confirm her legacy.
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I cannot say I'm completely satisfied with this biography.
Yet, I hope the book will attract readers.
Although well written and well researched, key sections in "Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun" are questionable and skewed.
Obviously, that is not the fault of the subject...Lorraine Hansberry.
The fault lies with the author Charles J. Shields, and what I would describe as mistaken stereotypical interpretations, misplaced "contradictions", and on occasion conjecture.
Shields would have been better served by stating "what was...or what is" rather than offer opinions without knowledge or foundation.
That is not to say Shields isn't "liberal-minded" in the telling of Lorraine Hansberry's life.
Shields has genuine empathy for the issues that drove Lorraine Hansberry's dedicated activism which stemmed from her humanity.
Yet, his liberalism is an obstacle to understanding the needed analysis of the balance of forces and economic exploitation in a capitalist society, the political and ideological guidance she absorbed, and a world view which equiped Lorraine Hansberry to pursue social justice and engage in such activism, national and international; on the street and on the stage.
So much so, J. Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gave Lorraine Hansberry special attention.
And like hundreds of others who caught Hoover's attention, his collection of copious files should tell us they--including Hansberry--were on an imperfect but nonetheless correct path to transform society.
Since, among Lorraine Hansberry's direct and indirect mentors were James Baldwin, Claudia Jones, W.E. B. Dubois, Paul Robeson, Simone de Beauvoir, and a score of illustrious, and not so illustrious, committed activists.
Nevertheless, this reader's admiration for Lorraine Hansberry is sustained, undimished, and unaffected.
Lorraine Hansberry's place in theater history is assured.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

(ARC received via goodreads giveaway)

This was a really great exploration of Hansberry's all-too-short life. I didn't know previously the extent to which she was politically active with Paul Robeson and the progressive communists after the war, before she committed to dramatic writing. I also was not aware of her family background, and how closely A Raisin in the Sun reflected that, not of her own home life, but of the situation in which her family's real estate enterprising put so many others.

I don't really want to use a book review to criticize or push back on Hansberry herself; she had opinions I disagreed with, but I appreciate the book exploring those, and I think on the whole, Shields left no stone unturned. Unfortunately, there just weren't many stones to unturn on the whole, due to her tragically young death. I think what I was missing was a perspective from the narrative voice, and this might not be a fair expectation to have of a biography (although I have been reading mostly fiction, but other biographies, such as Scott Eyman's of Cary Grant, do speak from a place of having an opinion rather than pure presentation of fact). I don't necessarily want to know Shields' every reaction to Hansberry's life; I do think, though, the book didn't offer much perspective except Hansberry's. Although even as I say that I can think of instances where that is not true; perhaps it's more that on the whole this book reads as a straightforward and linear recounting of a life. It's a very good read and I learned a lot, but I wish I had felt something, too.

That said : this is an ARC I am going to hold on to, as I really enjoyed it and can imagine myself going back to it to look up tidbits in the future.

[J R · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching the award winning movie, A Raisin in the Sun, I became curious about Lorraine Hansberry and was excited to find this new book from 2022 by the New York Times bestselling author Charles J. Shields's. This authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century's most admired playwrights is the moving story of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun.

Lorraine Hansberry's landmark work, written when she was just twenty-eight, is one of the most widely anthologized, read, and performed plays of the American stage. It’s listed by the National Theatre in Washington, DC, as one of the hundred most significant works of the twentieth century.

Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway and the first Black American playwright, as well as the youngest, to win a New York Drama Critics Circle Award. She imbued all her work with "the light which was Lorraine," as Baldwin put it, a legacy that has lasted much beyond her untimely passing at age thirty-four from pancreatic cancer.

“The supreme test of technical skill and creative imagination is the depth of art it requires to render the infinite varieties of the human spirit— which invariably hangs between despair and joy. “. ~ Lorraine Hansberry

Good read indeed

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid biography about the life and legacy of Lorraine Hansberry, and how she became the influential playwright behind "A Raisin in the Sun". I didn't know much about her, and assumed her life was like that of the play. So it was very interesting to learn her family's background in rental properties, their involvement in SCOTUS rulings against housing discrimination, and her robust background as an organizer for CPUSA and other leftwing organizations. It also touched on her own growing understanding of her sexuality and engagement with lesbian feminist theory, as well as her involvement in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. It's fascinating to think about what could have been if she had not developed pancreatic cancer. The biggest limitation of this book was the author - his disdain for Lorraine's politics and radicalism is apparent, but it is thorough in its representation. Overall, a solid book about an important icon!

[Ellen Ulken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a comprehensive view of Lorraine Hansberry's life from Charles Shields. Lorraine was raised in Chicago by wealthy, black, educated parents. She lived and worked in New York City during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. The white race's dominance, exclusion and oppression of their black countrymen was prevalent across society and it is no surprise that she flirted with the communist party in her efforts to navigate avenues for equal opportunity for blacks. She was friends and coworkers with James Baldwin, Paul Robeson and Sydney Poitier. Poitier played the lead in her masterpiece stage play, "Raisin in the Sun." This book chronicles Lorraine's struggles, her marriage, the birth and evolution of the writing of "Raisin," and her illness and death from pancreatic cancer in her early 30s.

[Ross Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent bio of a playwright we lost far too soon. It's unknown how the pressures of success would have weighed on her, but it's clear from this book that her intelligence and insight would have made her social commentary extremely valuable no matter what her subsequent literary output.

One of the graces of this book is that Shields provides context for her life without unnecessary editorial commentary. The reader can draw their own conclusions about Lorraine's family, Shields provides the facts.

I find it very odd that one of the other reviewers downgraded the book for appearing to show LH in a negative light. I came to exactly the opposite conclusion. She is shown as a real human being and her insights and humanitarian views make me wish we could have hard far more from her than her lifespan allowed.

[Allegra Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fascinated by this wonderfully researched and beautifully written biography. I learned about Hansberry's family, her father's kitchenette empire, Hansberry's political awakening and activism. All of this illuminates the work she did--particularly her brilliant play. I did think that the best of this book was the first half, and that the second half felt a bit rushed. I'd have liked to have read more about the composition, production, and reception of "A Raisin in the Sun." And I'd have liked more about Hansberry as a grown woman. Details about her childhood and adolescence are abundant, and not quite matched by the level of detail in later chapters dealing with Hansberry's life as a writer.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun is my first introduction to Charles J. Shields. Shields’s biography about Lorraine Hansberry was well researched and a comprehensive overview of Hansberry’s life. I read A Raisin in the Sun years ago for a college class. I remember discussing the play at length in class, but don’t remember discussing much about the playwright. What a missed opportunity. I will be seeking out Shields’s other biographies and I also feel compelled to revisit A Raisin in the Sun with my newfound knowledge of the playwright and her remarkable life. I received an advanced copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the life of Lorraine Hansberry who was one of the most amazing playwrights of the twentieth century. She wrote, A Raisin In The Sun, one of the most famous plays of our time. This book gives great insight into her life from an early age to her death at the young age of 34. She was truly a remarkable women who the author has done an outstanding job of providing this look at her life. I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.