This book draws on archival and community census reports, new interviews with Hurston’s contemporaries, numerous correspondence, and diligent research to fill in the missing pieces of Hurston’s life after she returned to Florida following a false child molestation charge in 1948. Included is a summary of the highlights of Hurston’s life and career through 1948, an accounting of the molestation scandal, a fresh and judicious examination and interpretation of her controversial political views, and her involvement with the production of the country’s first anthropologically correct black baby dol ... More

This book draws on archival and community census reports, new interviews with Hurston’s contemporaries, numerous correspondence, and diligent research to fill in the missing pieces of Hurston’s life after she returned to Florida following a false child molestation charge in 1948. Included is a summary of the highlights of Hurston’s life and career through 1948, an accounting of the molestation scandal, a fresh and judicious examination and interpretation of her controversial political views, and her involvement with the production of the country’s first anthropologically correct black baby doll. The book also provides a crucial, deft analysis of Hurston’s revisionist views on King Herod the Great and provides new details about the period she lived in Eau Gallie, Belle Glade, and Fort Pierce.