Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise and Achievement - Hardcover

Boyle, Sheila Tully; Buni, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155849149X ISBN 13: 9781558491496

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001

Synopsis

The son of a former slave, Paul Robeson (1898--1976) rose to become an All-American athlete, Phi Beta Kappa student, internationally celebrated singer and actor, and champion of racial equality. Yet despite his courage and many accomplishments, he could not overcome the combined effects of racism and McCarthyism. He was forced to live his last years in internal exile under FBI surveillance, a broken man.

Over twenty years in preparation, this massively researched biography takes Robeson from his humble beginnings in rural New Jersey to international fame on the eve of World War II. Drawing on a variety of new sources, the book presents a fully rounded picture -- a portrait that corrects, supplements, and revises previous work on Robeson and his circle.

About this title

About the Author

Sheila Tully Boyle is an editor and writer who specializes in American studies.

Andrew Bunie is professor of history at Boston College. His books include The Negro in Virginia Politics and Robert L. Vann and the Pittsburgh Courier.

Reviews

The son of a runaway slave, Robeson was a distinguished athlete and scholar at Rutgers and attended Columbia Law School before becoming a world-famous actor. An important figure in the history of U.S. performance and politics, he disappeared from public view by the end of his life. But the past decade or so has ushered in a revival of interest: Martin Duberman's groundbreaking 1988 biography, Paul Robeson, introduced him to a new generation of scholars; it was followed by academic writings about the performer's career and politics and Paul Robeson Jr.'s "intimate, informal memoir" (The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, Forecasts, Mar. 5). Twenty years in the making, this major biography covers Robeson's life from his birth in 1898 to the early height of his career in 1939. Focusing on the role of race in the development of Robeson's radical politics (e.g., how his understanding of political solidarity was broadened by exposure to anti-Semitism as well as racism at Rutgers), and how it manifested itself in his theater work (e.g., his refusal use racially offensive language in revivals of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones), Boyle and Bunie confirm Robeson Jr.'s thesis that his father's career was cut short because of the racism and anti-leftism of the 1950s. Touching on materials and insights covered in both the books by Duberman and Robeson Jr., and providing a few new details, Boyle and Bunie have condensed a huge amount of research into an accessible, perceptive biography that will be essential reading for anyone interested in studies of race, performance or theater in America.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Despite its great length, this new volume on one of America's most controversial performers covers only the period from Robeson's Princeton roots to his return from Russia in 1939. Based on a variety of new sources, including interviews with Robeson's contemporaries by coauthor Bunie (The Negro in Virginia Politics), this well-written volume offers a balanced picture of the artist negotiating U.S. racial attitudes and international politics. However, occasional episodes are surprisingly barren of illuminating information. For example, no mention is made of the 1935 recording sessions of "Ol' Man River" under the watchful eye of director James Whale and Robeson's alteration of the lyrics, an act that clearly showed him to be an independent thinker with a growing political awareness. Paul Robeson Jr.'s The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939 (Wiley, 2001) covers precisely the same territory but is much more personally anecdotal in nature despite his oversight of the Robeson Collections. Both books are worthy supplements, though, to what remains the standard biography, Martin Duberman's Paul Robeson: A Biography (LJ 1/89). Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155849149X
• ISBN 13: 9781558491496
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 568