Paul Robeson: A Watched ManJordanGoodman. New York: Verso, 2013.

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Paul Robeson: A Watched Man Jordan Goodman. New York: Verso, 2013.Paul Robeson's reputation as an actor, singer, and political activist is well-known. What is perhaps less known is fact that Robeson had his passport confiscated between 1950 and 1957 on grounds of security. Jordan Goodman's fine book looks at this period in detail, concentrating on how and why Robeson suffered such an indignity and relating it to more general questions of anti-communism and civil rights.The narrative begins with Robeson's British tour of 1949; before leaving United States, he allegedly asked by State Department to sign a waiver saying that he would not attend political events. He paid little heed: on nonconcert days, he participated in various gatherings under auspices of Communist Party. He believed that his vocation as an artist to side with rather than knuckle under to forces of imperialist obstructionism [____] In making my choice I am aware of no crippling doubt or indecision, for I know that I belong to (27). Moving on from Britain to Paris, Robeson attended Peace Congress and spoke about need for everyone to come together for well-being of humanity (44). As reported by L'Humanite, official organ of French Communist Party, Robeson declared his intention to for peace [____] We do not want to go to war for anyone against anyone [...] we support peace and friendship with Soviet Union and with popular republics (33).The damage done. Back in United States, Robeson accused of being a communist sympathizer and disloyal to African-American people. He insisted that his aim to fight for the freedom and liberation of Negro and other struggling peoples, and building of a world where we can all walk in full equality (57). This speech willfully misinterpreted: Alvin Stokes, an African American working as an investigator for House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), reported to committee that Robeson trying to initiate rebellion against American government. Another witness, Manning Jordan, alleged-falsely-that Robeson had been a member of Communist Party for several years.Robeson's fate sealed. He tried to give a concert at Peekskill, New York, in August 1949, but prevented from doing so by a crowd of angry veterans. He returned a month later with a heavily increased security presence around stadium but had to be sprited away in a car, lying down in back seat with blankets draped across passenger windows. The grand judicial inquiry, set up to investigate matter, concluded that principal causes were a growing awareness on part of Americans to dangers of communism in United States and perception that Robeson was a symbol of communism itself (61).From then on, Robeson's public appearances were strictly limited. Due to appear on an NBC discussion program hosted by Eleanor Roosevelt, he discovered at last moment that it had been canceled. He spoke at a rally attended by 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden in June 1950, and State Department withdrew his passport as a result. …