The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire

The untold story of Blanche Knopf, the singular woman who helped define American literature

Left off her company’s fifth anniversary tribute but described by Thomas Mann as “the soul of the firm,” Blanche Knopf began her career when she founded Alfred A. Knopf with her husband in 1915. With her finger on the pulse of a rapidly changing culture, Blanche quickly became a driving force behind the firm.

A conduit to the literature of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Blanche also legit...