PAUL ROBESON: THE MAN AND HIS MISSION

Ramdin, Ron

ISBN 10: 0720606845 / ISBN 13: 9780720606843

Published by Peter Owen, London, 1987

About this Item

223pp.

Seller Inventory # 011493

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PAUL ROBESON: THE MAN AND HIS MISSION
• Publisher: Peter Owen, London
• Publication Date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0720606845
• ISBN 13: 9780720606843
• Binding: Hb
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Studies

About this title

Synopsis

The first comprehensive biography of one of the best-loved singers of the last 100 years. In Ron Ramdin’s absorbing work, Robeson springs to life again as a man of charisma and stature, and as an indomitable spirit in his battle against The House Un-American Activities Committee.

Reviews

Actor, singer and political activist, the controversial Paul Robeson (1898-1976), son of former slaves, is the subject of this workmanlike, partisan biography by British freelance journalist Ramdin. He recounts Robeson's brilliant academic and sports careers at Rutgers University, his years at Columbia Law School and a stint as an attorney, his triumphs in the theater and as a singer who established black spirituals and songs as part of the American musical heritage. His Chaliapinesque voice was enormously popular abroad where he resided for extended periods, especially in the U.S.S.R. to which he felt politically attuned. Despite his active support of the American WW II effort, Robeson's pro-Soviet stance and involvement with Henry Wallace's Progressive Party, along with his opposition to the Korean War, provoked harassment by the House Un-American Activities Committee, an FBI investigation and the loss of his passport for more than a decade. In ill health and disillusioned with Soviet communism, he returned from his last trip abroad in 1963 to renew a commitment to black civil rights. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A dull rehash of Robeson's theatrical and musical career and the development of his political philosophy, this pricey British import suffers from chronic weak editing and incomplete statements of fact. Readers are not told, for example, that Peekskill scene of the famous riots that occurred because of a Robeson concertis in New York state. The language needs help, but good editing alone could not make up for Ramdin's inability to bring his subject to life on the page. Most libraries already own enough vibrant, original books by and about Robeson to justify their passing over Ramdin's first effort at the craft of biography.Bonnie Jo Dopp, District of Columbia P.L.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.