The son of a runaway slave, Robeson was a distinguished athlete and scholar at Rutgers and attended Columbia Law School before becoming a world-famous actor. An important figure in the history of U.S. performance and politics, he disappeared from public view by the end of his life. But the past decade or so has ushered in a revival of interest: Martin Duberman's groundbreaking 1988 biography, Paul Robeson, introduced him to a new generation of scholars; it was followed by academic writings about the performer's career and politics and Paul Robeson Jr.'s "intimate, informal memoir" (The Undiscovered Paul Robeson,
Forecasts, Mar. 5). Twenty years in the making, this major biography covers Robeson's life from his birth in 1898 to the early height of his career in 1939. Focusing on the role of race in the development of Robeson's radical politics (e.g., how his understanding of political solidarity was broadened by exposure to anti-Semitism as well as racism at Rutgers), and how it manifested itself in his theater work (e.g., his refusal use racially offensive language in revivals of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones),
Boyle and Bunie confirm Robeson Jr.'s thesis that his father's career was cut short because of the racism and anti-leftism of the 1950s. Touching on materials and insights covered in both the books by Duberman and Robeson Jr., and providing a few new details, Boyle and Bunie have condensed a huge amount of research into an accessible, perceptive biography that will be essential reading for anyone interested in studies of race, performance or theater in America. (Aug.)
