{"product_id":"lorraine-hansberry-the-life-behind-a-raisin-in-the-sun-9781250871060","title":"Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind a Raisin in the Sun","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe moving story of the life of the woman behind \u003ci\u003eA Raisin in the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage, by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eMockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten when she was just twenty-eight, Lorraine Hansberry's landmark \u003ci\u003eA Raisin in the Sun \u003c\/i\u003eis 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCharles 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis dramatic telling of a passionate life--a very American life through self-reinvention--uses previously unpublished interviews with close friends in politics and theater, privately held correspondence, and deep research to reconcile old mysteries and raise new questions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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles J. Shields\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of Harper Lee's \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling biography \u003ci\u003eMockingbird\u003c\/i\u003e, the Kurt Vonnegut biography \u003ci\u003eAnd So It Goes\u003c\/i\u003e, and the biography of John Edward Williams, \u003ci\u003eThe Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel\u003c\/i\u003e. Shields has spoken to hundreds of large audiences in schools, libraries, museums, and historic theaters and appeared in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Holt Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50916016095506,"sku":"9781250871060","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_03a0a4ba-6c1a-407f-ad18-7629327d6c5b.jpg?v=1738834236","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/lorraine-hansberry-the-life-behind-a-raisin-in-the-sun-9781250871060","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}