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Title: Paul Robeson: A Biography by Martin Duberman ISBN: 1-56584-288-X Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: May, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Probably the best book on Paul we'll ever get...
Comment: Martin Duberman presents an exhaustive, objective examination of the awesomely talented, psychologically complex, and perhaps politically naive Robeson. I am white, and grew up in a racist family, but from the moment I heard Paul Robeson's recording of "Get On Board, Little Children" I was hooked. I was only 14, but that song, less than 90 seconds long, launched me on a journey away from bigotry that is still proceding, 43 years later. I fell in thrall to the voice, ended up owning 11 vinyl albums and reading everything by and about him I could. His defense of Stalin-era Communism is stubborn and troubling, but there is no disputing his importance as a fighter for civil rights before it was fashionable. I am not sure how those of us who were not yet adults in the '40's and '50's can fairly judge the politics of the man...especially those of us who are not Afro-American. I prefer to let his controversial politics take a backseat to his pioneer acting and singing. This was a real MAN, who could hold a stage with only his voice and his charisma and his talent, making white, affluent audiences listen to negro spirituals, union songs, Chinese and Russian and German songs, and like it. Robeson was glorious and tragic, brilliant and flawed, courageous but sometimes selfish, furious often and yet capable of the most tender lullabies. One of the most fascinating American lives of the 20th Century. Professor Duberman has done great work with this book. If Robeson interests you, buy it and read it. I'm glad I did.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Epic Story of a Talented, Wronged Man
Comment: Duberman's biography of one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement and one of the great Americans of the last century is both accessible and academically thorough. Almost one third of the massive book's pages are comprised of endnotes, detailing and commenting on every source. However, the book is easily read straight through by a layperson, due to Duberman's writing style, which maintains objectivity while not merely relegating itself to a listing of historical events (he, at times, intersperses his own interpretations of Robeson's actions and beliefs, while defending those interpretations and not allowing them to cloud his reporting). It is also the powerful, moving story of Robeson that keeps the reader engaged. There ought to be no doubt now, a quarter-century after his death, that Robeson was a true hero, a noble man worthy of his historical vindication. Duberman's book doesn't merely hero worship, it examines the life, points out the flaws (his estranged marriage and infidelities, his steadfast support of Stalin), and gives the reader a chance to examine a life much worth examining.
Rating: 5
Summary: An American Hero In Black
Comment: There are two recent biographies in my library that I am proud to own above almost all others: David Levering Lewis' two volume biography of W.E.B. DuBois and Mr. Duberman's biography of Paul Robeson. Despite the fanatical rantings of would be fascists that Robeson was a communist, Robeson was an American hero in the truest sense and in the best tradition. He was a man who recognized that all of his remarkable achievements could be destroyed by his persistent public demands that the United States live up to its proclamations of being the land of liberty in a Cold War environment of paranoia, hypocrisy, persecution, and oppression of dissenters by actively and effectively addressing the grievances of its Afro American citizens. He was a genius who sacrificed his most productive years in the cause of civil rights and justice for those who, it must be remembered, were being segregated, lynched, disenfranchised, economically exploited, stereotyped, and humiliated in every area of American society throughout most of Robeson's lifetime. Robeson courageously kept common cause with his people---and not just those who shared his color---when his successes allowed him every opportunity to serve only his own personal interests in comfort for the rest of his life.
Duberman does more than offer a biography of Robeson;he presents a biography of Robeson's times and environment that clearly demonstrates how his passion for justice and the realization of the American Dream for EVERY citizen was constantly reinforced by the events occurring around him, two examples of which are the Scottsboro Boys case and the failure of the United States government to adopt anti-lynching legislation. Duberman does not gloss over Robeson's conflicts over revelations that the ideal communist state had become a Stalinist nightmare but presents the information in such a fashion that the reader might reach his or her own conclusions. My conclusion was that Robeson's failing, if it is that, was that he could not abandon his commitment to the ideals of equality, brotherhood, and justice claimed by the Communist Party as a reality in the Soviet Union until and unless the United States realized those ideals regarding its own Afro American citizens, its poor, and its workers. Like many other prominent Americans of the time, Robeson was seduced by a hope for a dream of Marxist, as opposed to Leninist/Stalinist, communism. Unlike many of those Americans, Robeson remained faithful to the dream despite the reality. Even giants have flaws and Duberman carefully and fairly documents Robeson's. Condemning Robeson for holding fast to his increasingly desperate dream of social justice realized somewhere on the planet---as was also the case with DuBois---may serve the myopic political agenda of some who would never dream of condemning, say, Charles Lindbergh for his racist views and unabashed support for Nazi Germany or Henry Ford for his notorious anti-semitism, but it is a biased and extremely limited assessment of a hugely gifted man all too aware of the limitations placed upon millions of American citizens solely because of their color.
Despite the efforts of the FBI, the State Department, Joseph McCarthy, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and others, no evidence has ever been presented to demonstrate that Robeson ever became a member of the Communist Party unlike DuBois who, in his NINETIES, formally joined the Communist Party only after being subjected to the machinations of the agencies of the United States government to block his return to the United States and as a last defiant gesture to those who attempted to silence him.
Duberman's biography is the tragic and inspiring story of an American hero in black who represents some of the finest qualities America has to offer the world: He fought for the right in the face of overwhelming and insurmountable odds, submitted his talents and careers to the flame of anti-communist hysteria, suffered at the hands of the government of HIS country with dignity, and never stopped believing in the attainment of the American Dream of equality and social justice that was the driving force behind his politics. I can think of many historical Americans who are held up to us as "heroes" and are far less deserving of the characterization than Paul Robeson.
Paul Robeson is not and will not be forgotten. Martin Duberman has done much to demonstrate that we cannot afford to forget this man. And those who offer obviously knee-jerk criticisms of Robeson should at least have the decency to read the book.
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Title: Here I Stand by Paul Robeson ISBN: 0807064459 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title:Paul Robeson - Here I Stand ASIN: B00000JLTO Publisher: Winstar Home Entertainment Pub. Date: 24 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $22.48 |
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Title: Sex Seen: The Emergence of Modern Sexuality in America by Sharon Ullman ISBN: 0520209559 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939 ISBN: 0471242659 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 02 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (California Studies in Food and Culture) by Harvey Levenstein ISBN: 0520234391 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 05 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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