This first comprehensive biography of Jewish American writer and humorist Harry Golden (1903–1981) — author of the 1958 national best-seller Only in America — illuminates a remarkable life intertwined with the rise of the civil rights movement, Jewish popular culture, and the sometimes precarious position of Jews in the South and across America during the 1950s. After recounting Golden’s childhood on New York’s Lower East Side, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett points to his stint in prison as a young man, after a widely publicized conviction for investment fraud during the Great Depression, as the root of his empathy for the underdog in any story. During World War II, the cigar-smoking, bourbon-loving raconteur landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and founded the Carolina Israelite newspaper, which was published into the 1960s. Golden’s writings on race relations and equal rights attracted a huge popular readership. Golden used his celebrity to editorialize for civil rights as the momentous story unfolded. He charmed his way into friendships and lively correspondence with Carl Sandburg, Adlai Stevenson, Robert Kennedy, and Billy Graham, among other notable Americans, and he appeared on the Tonight Show as well as other national television programs. Hartnett’s spirited chronicle captures Golden’s message of social inclusion for a new audience today. “[Hartnett] does not scant any of her subject’s faults and brings out his virtues.” — Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal “[Hartnett] is a superb writer who knows what can be produced when you research the past and learn what ‘regular people’ are reading.” — Robert Stepto, Washington Post “Superbly written [and] solidly researched." — Seattle Times “[A] highly readable and recommended biography.” — Library Journal , starred review “[A] brisk, thoroughly researched, and mostly admiring biography.” — Edward Kosner, Commentary “Much more than the biography of one man . . . this is a well-told account of the civil rights movement, describing significant milestones in its history, the splits among its leaders, and the various forms that activism took. A solid piece of research.” — Kirkus Reviews “Comprehensive, expertly researched and engagingly written.” — News & Observer “Compelling.” — New Hampshire Union Leader “This book describes a significant chapter of American political history....Will appeal as a well-told, stranger than fiction tale.” — CHOICE “[A] comprehensive biography [that] reads like a Who’s Who of [Golden’s] heyday.”— BookReporter.com This lively and engaging book brings within a single biographical purview the history of journalism, the South, the civil rights movement, and American Jews.--Stephen J. Whitfield, author of In Search of American Jewish Culture The biography that Harry Golden deserves: funny, hard hitting, compassionate Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett is a writer living in New Hampshire. She worked as a journalist for more than thirty years in New England and the Pacific Northwest.