The Undiscovered Paul Robeson

''Robeson . . . lives, overwhelmingly, in the hearts and minds of the people whom he touched, the people for whom he was an example, the people who gained from him the power to perceive and the courage to resist. It is not a sentimental question. He lived in our times, we live in his. . . . It is a matter of bearing witness to that force which moved among us.'' ¿James BaldwinPaul Robeson was inarguably one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. As this unprecedented biography makes clear, the essential facts of his public life are near legendary. Actor, singer, scholar, and activist¿¿ Robeson dominated his era. His father was an escaped slave; his mother, a descendent of distinguished freedmen. 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 and film career in America and Europe, Robeson redefined the black male image.But an intensely private side to Robeson is now revealed in these pages. At last, we can know the whole man. Here is the intimate story of how the preacher¿s son emerged as a force of breathtaking courage, principle, and compassion. Haunted by childhood trauma and pitted against brutal racists, he battled against his enemies and his demons with a warrior¿s heart. Although his youth spanned the Harlem Renaissance and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, he resisted politics for years. Flowering as an artist in Europe, he emerged as a fierce symbol of anticolonial and antifascist struggles around the world. This was the Paul Robeson who returned to New York as a pioneering superstar, ready to challenge America to keep its promise to his people.The Undiscovered Paul Robeson sets out to explore the connection between the artist¿s soul and the passions that ruled it. Layering decades of personal conversations, extensive research, and rich insights with previously unpublished excerpts from the private diaries and letters of Paul and Eslanda Robeson, Paul Robeson, Jr., gives us a deeply felt and brilliantly conceived portrait of his father¿s defining struggles, triumphs, and humanity.

The eagerly awaited second volume of Paul Robeson Jr.'s acclaimed biography of his father, the legendary singer, actor, and social activist.br/br/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.bulletlistbulletBreaks new ground, using unpublished photographs and source materials from private diaries, letters, and government documentsbulletOffers unprecedented insight into how Robeson bridged the contradictions of his personal and public lifebulletPraised 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)/bulletlistbr/br/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.