The Undiscovered Paul Robeson
Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
The eagerly awaited second volume of Paul Robeson Jr.'s acclaimed biography of his father, the legendary singer, actor, and social activist.
The greatest scholar-athlete-performing artist in U.S. history, Paul Robeson was one of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century. In this final volume of his groundbreaking biography, Paul Robeson Jr. tells the untold, inside story of his father's life from World War II until his death, including his fight against racism and injustice and his courageous defiance of persecution by government agencies.
Breaks new ground, using unpublished photographs and source materials from private diaries, letters, and government documentsOffers unprecedented insight into how Robeson bridged the contradictions of his personal and public lifePraised as "an accomplished and moving memoir" (Boston Globe, on Vol. 1) and "an important, well-wrought addition to African-American, Cold War and theater scholarship" (Publishers Weekly)
Revealing a multifaceted figure who moved among major roles as a performer, political activist, husband, and father, The Undiscovered Paul Robeson traces the dramatic arc of one of the world's most distinguished performing artists and passionate leaders in the fight for universal human rights.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Paul Robeson, one of the world's most famous actors from the 1920s through the 1950s and a man who led an extraordinary life by any measure, is not widely known today. In this moving and intimate memoir, his son, a freelance journalist and translator, blames his father's current obscurity on the public response to his outspoken left-wing politics and insistence on racial pride, evident throughout his careers in college sports, on stage and as a spokesperson for equal rights. Most pointedly at issue, in Robeson Jr.'s eyes, is the far-reaching, vituperative media campaign waged during the McCarthy era that (wrongly) labeled Robeson a Communist and caused him to be blacklisted from 1949 until his death in 1976. Born in 1898 to a runaway slave who became a famed minister and preacher, in 1915 Robeson was the third African-American admitted to Rutgers University, where, despite overt racism, he became a noted scholar, athlete and orator. After graduating from Columbia Law School, he tried his hand at the theater and, in 1924, was heralded for his performance in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. Robeson went on to become an international star, notably playing Othello in London and appearing in the stage and film versions of the musical Show Boat. During this time, he also entered the political arena with his support of antifascist and leftist groups, later used by the press and anti-Communist witch-hunters to tarnish Robeson's reputation. Robeson Jr. writes forcefully of his parents' successes his mother, Eslanda, led a life as public as her husband's as well as of their troubled marriage. This version of his father's life is an important, well-wrought addition to African-American, Cold War and theater scholarship.
