No Way But This:
in search of Paul Robeson
Overview
Film star. Icon. Agitator. Martyr.
Paul Robeson was a twentieth-century icon; the most famous African-American of his time. The son of a former slave, he found worldwide fame as a performer, travelling from Hollywood to the West End, and even to communist Russia.
A champion of social justice and equality, he would go on to lose everything for the sake of his principles.
Here, Jeff Sparrow traces Robeson’s remarkable life. Part travelogue, part biography, this is a story of political ardour, heritage, and trauma — a luminous portrait of a man and an urgent reflection on the politics that define us now.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Paperback
- 198mm x 129mm
- 304 pages
- 9781911617204
- GBP£9.99
- 12 July 2018
Awards
- Shortlisted for the 2018 Hearst Big Book Awards (Esquire Biography)
- Shortlisted for the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature, Best Writing Award
- 2018 IPEd Non-fiction Book of the Year Award — Highly Commended
Praise
‘Sparrow shows how this admittedly splendid actor, this marvelous singer, this charismatic speaker, had somehow evolved into something more: he had for many people become the embodiment of the global longing for a better world, a juster dispensation … Sparrow has made perfect and haunting sense of him.’
‘In a chronologically methodical and delightfully insightful approach that might best be described as “bio-tourism”, Australian author, journalist, and broadcaster Sparrow tells the story of preternaturally gifted Paul Robeson … [A]n excellent and perhaps timely reboot of Robeson’s singularly incredible life, especially as its trajectory now intersects with contemporary racial issues.’
About the Author
Jeff Sparrow is a writer, editor, broadcaster, and Walkley Award–winning journalist. He is a columnist for The Guardian Australia, a former Breakfaster at Melbourne’s 3RRR, and a past editor of Overland literary journal. His most recent books are Fascists Among Us: online hate and the Christchurch massacre; Trigger Warnings: political correctness and the rise of the right; and No Way But This: in search of Paul Robeson. He lectures at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at The University of Melbourne.