Paul Robeson

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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. (September)

Library Journal

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.