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Hettie Jones
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How I Became Hettie Jones Paperback – December 6, 1996

by Hettie Jones (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
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Greenwich Village in the 1950s was a haven to which young poets, painters, and jazz musicians flocked. Among them was Hettie Cohen, who'd been born into a middle-class Jewish family in Queens and who'd chosen to cross racial barriers to marry the controversial black poet LeRoi Jones. Theirs was a bohemian life in the awakening East Village of underground publishing and jazz lofts, through which drifted such icons of the generation as Allen Ginsberg, Thelonious Monk, Jack Kerouac, Frank O'Hara, Billie Holiday, James Baldwin, and Franz Kline.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grove Press
  4. Publication date
    December 6, 1996
  5. Dimensions
    5.52 x 0.67 x 8.26 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0802134963
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802134967
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jones' atmospheric prose brings the Beat era to life with more gusto than any previous memoir, thanks to homely details like eating potato pancakes at the Second Avenue Deli and wearing Ukrainian scarves and black tights. She looks back on her marriage to LeRoi Jones with tenderness, even as she delineates the cultural forces that eventually ripped them apart. Famous friends like Allen Ginsberg make appearances, but Jones' focus is on family (her two daughters are lovingly described) and individual growth. Evocative and touching.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; 1st Grove Press ed edition (December 6, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802134963
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802134967
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.52 x 0.67 x 8.26 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

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Hettie Jones

Hettie Jones

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
70 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dusty Desert
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read!
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2010
Verified Purchase
This book captures the flavor of Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, the Beat Generation and BeBop Jazz, as it was happening. This young and talented white woman falls in love with a black man at a time when interracial relationships were considered shocking. Her father totally cuts off all contact with her for the rest of her life. She raises their two girls, all the while working and barely making ends meet, so that LeRoi Jones can write. She endures his numerous affairs, including with Diane di Prima, who has a baby by LeRoi Jones. Yet he decides he must divorce her because (his reason) she is white. Like her father he then cuts off all contact with her. However, throughout she does not indulge in self-pity (even as my heart was breaking for her). She does survive and comes to acknowledge her own writing talent.
5 people found this helpful
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AmericanDreamer
5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable addition to any collection of books on the Black Power movement
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2013
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This is an autobiography well worth reading for anyone who has an interest in the Black Power movement of the 1960's. LeRoi Jones, the legitimately acclaimed and respected black author and social activist, began his adult life with a white wife and children. He turned his back on this family because they didn't fit well with his changing life, as he became more involved in the militant side of the burgeoning fight for black civil rights, but this book is the emotional and powerful true story of a woman who never stopped loving him.
2 people found this helpful
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Monique Jenkins
4.0 out of 5 stars This book was slow at first. However it provided me with a deeper understanding of Amiri Baraka's early life. After reading this book, I have grown to respect Hettie Cohen Jones and the fact she was there for her children. Also despite her struggles with Leroi Jones she did not malign him. She told her truth. I would recommend this book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2018
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This book was slow at first. However it provided me with a deeper understanding of Le Roi Jones" early life and his transformation into Amiri Baraka. After reading this book, I have grown to respect Hettie Cohen Jones and the fact that she was the stability in her daughters' lives . Also despite the challenges she experienced with Le Roi Jones, she did not malign him. She told her truth.
2 people found this helpful
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Charles B. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Beat Memoir
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2011
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Hettie Jones puts sentences together in a unique and beautiful way. I think it makes for good writing. Unlike the reviewer who said this was badly written and boring, I found her picture of Bohemian life in 50's New York, her work as a publisher, and her description of her relationship/breakup with the then Leroy Jones (now Baraka), exceptionally fascinating. There's a clear eye but no bitterness and meanness to this book, and the picture she gives of Jones is as a warm and generous person, quite different from the austere persona he adopts in much of his poetry. But ultimately the book is about her, not Jones, and what an amazing picture it is that emerges.
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SRL
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous read
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019
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I bought the hardcover for my daughter, and the Kindle version came with it ... for me! Loved reading it. I could smell the scenes she described. Very engrossing and enlightening read. Now I'm waiting for my daughter to finish "Love, H." and other of Hettie's writings so I can dive in. Highly recommend all of her books.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Life journey unknown
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2018
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You never know where life can take you and sometimes you try to make it happen but it’s not only in your hands. At the core we stay ourself a as we were born .great book describing an era that should. It be forgotten
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Zarda
5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done!!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2015
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Brilliant! Amazing story with new information shedding light on hidden women who are worthy of fame and praise. I am honored to have read this.
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G. Fondren
3.0 out of 5 stars informative
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2019
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informative
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Top reviews from other countries

J. Catlow
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2015
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Great book
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