Australians and New Zealanders loved Paul Robeson. Socialists, peace activists, and trade unionists held him up as their champion, the face of defiance amid Cold War harassment. Conservative theatre critics swooned at his golden bass baritone. Māori rugby players called him ‘brother’. Eastern European migrants wept to his song about the Warsaw Ghetto. Even an FBI informant could not deny he was a ‘great and superb artist’.
The Last Tour: Paul and Eslanda Robeson’s visit to Australia and New Zealand by Ann Curthoys
Miegunyah Press, $39.99 pb, 386 pp
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