The romantic ghost of Greenwich Village

This is the first complete biography of Guido Bruno, a mysterious personality in the development of New York's Greenwich Village into an American «left bank» prior to World War I. Widely denounced as a crass showman, Bruno is shown in this carefully documented work to have been instead an idealist who sought to bring art and literature out of its elitist enclave and to the American masses. His support for young unknown talent and his continuing battle for a freer American press are detailed. Among those helped by Bruno were Frank Harris, Sadakichi Hartmann, Alfred Kreymborg, Hart Crane and Clara Tice. Those he fought in court included the Postmaster General and the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The book sheds light on a man who is an important missing link in the history of American arts and letters.