A fact-driven, scholarly account that lacks slightly in narrative drive.
The story of the U.S. government’s persecution of entertainer and peace advocate Paul Robeson.
In his latest work, Goodman (The Devil and Mr. Casement: One Man's Battle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness, 2010, etc.) recounts the life of Paul Robeson (1898–1976), “one of the most famous African Americans of the twentieth century.” Though he was initially most well-known for his rendition of “Ol’ Man River,” among other tunes, Robeson soon began employing his voice not merely for entertainment purposes, but also to share with the world the truth of America’s social injustices. While in Paris, the communist-leaning Robeson remarked that it was “unthinkable” that African-Americans “would go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations.” His remarks were poorly received back in America, where both the African-American and white presses placed Robeson squarely in their cross hairs. The U.S. government was equally perturbed by what they deemed to be his disparaging remarks; as a result, Robeson soon found his passport revoked. Newly grounded, the controversial figure remained a lightning rod for civil rights, and much to the government’s chagrin, all attempts to silence him only managed to further the reach of his voice. “They can keep me from going overseas,” Robeson remarked in a 1957 Ebony interview, “but they can’t keep news of Emmett Till and Autherine Lucy from going over.” Goodman’s meticulous research provides the underpinnings for a compelling story, though his propensity for the tangential often distracts more than contributes. While Robeson’s story is indeed engaging, the author’s inability to bring the man to life keeps his carefully researched work from hitting the perfect note.
A fact-driven, scholarly account that lacks slightly in narrative drive.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-78168-131-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Verso
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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