Product Description

The long-awaited, untold, inside story of the rise of the legendary actor, singer, scholar, and activist. The first volume of this major biography breaks new ground.

The greatest scholar-athlete-performing artist in U.S. history, Paul Robeson was one of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century.

Now his son, Paul Robeson Jr., traces the dramatic arc of his rise to fame, painting a definitive picture of Paul Robeson’s formative years. His father was an escaped slave; his mother, a descendent of freedmen; and his wife, the brilliant and ambitious Eslanda Cardozo Goode. With a law degree from Columbia University; a professional football career; title roles in Eugene O’Neill’s plays and in Shakespeare’s Othello; and a concert career in America and Europe, Robeson dominated his era.

This unprecedented biography reveals the depth of Robeson’s cultural scholarship, explores the contradictions he bridged in his personal and political life, and describes his emergence as a symbol of the anticolonial and antifascist struggles. Filled with previously unpublished photographs and source materials from the private diaries and letters of Paul and Eslanda Robeson, this is the epic story of a forerunner who now stands as one of America’s greatest heroes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #496793 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

From 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.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Paul Robeson is certainly one of the more tragic figures in 20th-century U.S. history. He was a gifted athlete, musician, scholar, actor, and activist who remained enamoured of Stalin long after others grew disillusioned. Now his son, owner and archivist for the Paul Robeson and Eslanda Robeson Collection, mines the collection's decades' worth of personal papers and diaries to explore the artist's intellectual development in the first of a proposed two-volume biography. Extensively illustrated with personal photos, this is a unique account of a brilliant but troubled man forced to seek the accolades he deserved in foreign lands. Often more anecdotal than analytical, this volume remains a necessary acquisition for all libraries and a welcome adjunct to Martin Duberman's definitive Paul Robeson: A Biography (LJ 1/89). Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The great athlete, singer, actor, and activist's son offers an "intimate, informal biography" of him. Citing letters, diaries, speeches, news accounts, and personal records of his parents, the son recalls the struggles and glitter of his father's brilliant career, achieved by overcoming the racial restrictions of his lifetime. Paul Robeson (1898-1976) attained degrees from Rutgers University and Columbia Law School; success as a professional football player; acting success as Othello and the Emperor Jones, among many roles; and acclaim as a concert singer and film star in the U.S and Europe. Coming late to politics, he challenged racism and fascism and used his dignified stardom to change the image of black men and confront American political and social hypocrisy. Meanwhile, his marriage was complicated, his son shows, by his wife's possessiveness and his own defiance of her attempted restrictions. His many years of being blacklisted for associating with Communists later eroded his fame. His son demonstrates how compelling a figure his gifted father could be. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A Radiant Man Of Courage, Talent And Spirit!
What an outstanding book about a dazzling man that can only bring pride to every American, joy to anyone hearing him sing, and praise knowing his full life story.

The book finally shows that Paul Robeson is an icon far beyond his time. He could have lived just the good life based on his talents in academics, entertainment and sports. Robeson earning a comfortable life of opulence with his talents his first 40 years only to give it away to stand up to the injustices he saw in America and the world. He practice when you are given much in life you must give back even more and he did losing much for his show of valance.

If you ever heard the English words of the Soviet Anthem sung by Robeson, you understand the meaning of justice in life. It must be remembered that this was when Russia along with Ghandi in India were opposing Nazi Germany in Spain, Fascist Italy in Ethiopia and Colonialism in Africa and Asia.

Robeson was for equality, fairness and civility. They opposed Fascism, Colonialism and Racism just like many came to do in the West, but at a much later date. Robeson never accepted the atrocities of Stalin and indeed never met him. In fact, many of Robeson's friends in Russia were actually purged and murdered by Stalin.

Consequently, by becoming the most popular singer in Russia in 1930's and supporter of Russia against Hitler in the 1940's actually branded you an archenemy of America in the 1950's. A terrible sad situation but very true. In the end, this yeoman of ability and audacity was wrongly put on many blacklists that forced his legend into the entertainment and political dump heap of oblivion.

Later there is no doubt that the courageous deeds of Paul Robeson only spawn the acts of Dr. Martin Luther King. These same people led the changes in America that were required so opportiunbities for all replaced the discrimination of the many. The same thing can be said to have happen in Russia when Stalinist's policies were finally exposed for the treachery and exploitation to enslave minds instead of freeing them. The book proclaims the costs of calling real heroes traitors for seeking to oppose the power of such tyranny.

Paul Robeson is to be admire as much as any person in America. He is my favorite singer and after reading this book you will see few men could equal his talent and even fewer his grit. I highly recommend this book and hope it in made into a movie.

Illuminates an important figure
Paul Robeson deserves to be better known today - hopefully this book will achieve that. His son, Paul Robeson, Jr., uses family portraits, diaries, taped interviews and other archival documents to produce a well-rounded portrait of his father's accomplishments as an athlete, an actor, a scholar, and an activist.

Who Was The Real Paul Robeson?
I highly recommend "The Undiscovered Paul Robeson" because it provides insightful information for both those readers who know a lot about Paul Robeson and those who do not. One of the most significant figures of the 20th century, this book paints a definitive picture of the key influences of his formative years. Born in 1898, he was raised by his minister father (who was an escaped slave)in the African-American church culture. The book shows how he became a football star,and an internationally famous concert singer and actor who dedicated his art to the struggles of his people for full equality. The book is particularly interesting because it uses Paul Robeson's own words as culled from his diaries, correspondence, and personal conversations with his son and other intimates, and from his wife's diaries. Paul Robeson legacy is important for us to know about. He helped to change the racial stereotype prevalent in the first half of the 20th century by presenting a dignified male image on stage and off; he was the first artist to legitimize spirituals as significant concert material; and he always reflected the dual image of an African-American rooted in his own culture who simultaneously believed in the oneness of the human spirit worldwide. More Americans need to know more about Paul Robeson!