Albert Parry (1901–1992)

(first edition, Covici, Friede) Parry's well reasearched, highly readable book didn't have much chance for success, sadly. Published in 1933, when America was in the depths of the Depression, people weren't in the mood to read a book about Bohemians in Washington Square. The book floundered and sank and even Parry had trouble getting copies to give away.
That's really a shame because this book is quite an eye opener. In a land still darkened by the shadow of the Puritan Fathers, one would think Bohemianism would have a hard time making it. Not so. Even if Poe, the father of American Bohemianism, was not a success, he certainly set the bar high for those who followed and American Bohemia flourished a prospered in places like Washington Square, Taos, San Francisco reaching its apotheosis in the 1920s. A wonderful book filled with people you've probably never heard of but certainly ought to know.… (mais)