Reviews
"Moylan interviewed Hurston's friends and neighbors and drew on archival material, including never-before-published letters, to offer this look at the final decade in the life of a woman who was a writer, an anthropologist, and a folklorist unafraid to challenge conventions."
--Booklist
"For Zora Neale Hurston the 1950s were years in which she struggled to survive. The story of her last 10 years might sound like a gloomy tale, but in Virginia Lynn Moylan's Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade this is not the case."
--In These Times
"Whether one is very familiar with the literature on Zora Neale Hurston or is just becoming acquainted with the life and work of this celebrated writer, Moylan's study is highly recommended."
--Journal of Southern History
"A heartbreaking story."
--Tampa Bay Times
"A needed contribution to Hurston's scholarship due to the well- developed and researched account of Hurston's last ten years, a period which has received less critical attention than other earlier periods prior to the publication of this biography."
--Florida Historical Quarterly
"A well-written, easily flowing and interesting narrative."
--Southern Humanities Review
“A sound analysis of Hurston’s work on Herod and her journalistic writings, as well as insight regarding the richness of a life in the small towns of east central Florida… with so much information from people never before interviewed, Moylan’s study is like a set of puzzle pieces that finally complete the portrait.”
--Resources for American Literary Study
“This examination of the last ten years in the life of a bold, brilliant, accomplished anthropologist, political essayist, folklorist, and author is educational and tragic.”
--Journal of Folklore Research