Paul Robeson
A Watched Man
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Paul Robeson was one of the most famous people in the world; to his enemies he was also one of the most dangerous. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the African American singer was the voice of the people, both on stage and as a political activist who refused to be silenced as he fought for the rights of the oppressed. His message of peace, equality and justice was understood as much on the streets of Manchester, Moscow, Johannesburg and Bombay as it was in Harlem and Washington, DC.
Jordan Goodman tells the story of Robeson during the tumultuous Cold War when the United States government became so worried by his impact abroad that it tried to silence him. Drawing on extensive new archival material from Robeson's FBI, State Department, MI6 and KGB files, he shows the major international scope of this effort.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Many books published on controversial African-American entertainer-activist Paul Robeson (1898 1976) have explored his extensive campaigning on behalf of the poor and oppressed, but none of the publications revealed the fact that he was closely monitored by various global intelligence agencies. Goodman (The Devil and Mr. Casement: One Man's Struggle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness), a writer and researcher, corrects that oversight with an exhaustive look into why the superpowers feared Robeson's political clout in the postwar era, nervous that his communist views could inflame the colonized and disenfranchised through the world. Drawing from confidential files of the FBI, State Department, MI5, and KGB, Goodman shows the determination of those agencies to neutralize Robeson's firm resolve and celebrity, with the activist quoted as saying, "I am a radical and I am going to stay one until my people get free to walk the earth." Goodman's account of Robeson's struggle against those who wanted to silence him is comprehensive, well-documented, and useful for anyone studying the McCarthy era.
