Book review: Paul Robeson: the artist as revolutionary by Gerald Horne

Alongside his fame as a singer, actor and athlete, Paul Robeson was a key political activist whose proclaimed socialism and fight against US segregation positioned him as a target of the US government. In Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary, Gerald Horne argues that Robeson shows the importance of internationalism in understanding the success of black liberation movements. However, while this book underscores the need to forge unity and solidarity amongst oppressed groups, it leaves unexamined Robeson’s early politicisation within the USA and obscures the role of Eslanda Robeson and other women within the movement, finds Sherese R. Taylor.