Jackie Robinson: A Biography - Softcover

Rampersad, Arnold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 034542655X ISBN 13: 9780345426550

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998

Synopsis

The extraordinary life of Jackie Robinson is illuminated as never before in this full-scale biography by Arnold Rampersad, who was chosen by Jack's widow, Rachel, to tell her husband's story, and was given unprecedented access to his private papers. We are brought closer than we have ever been to the great ballplayer, a man of courage and quality who became a pivotal figure in the areas of race and civil rights.

Born in the rural South, the son of a sharecropper, Robinson was reared in southern California. We see him blossom there as a student-athlete as he struggled against poverty and racism to uphold the beliefs instilled in him by his mother--faith in family, education, America, and God.

We follow Robinson through World War II, when, in the first wave of racial integration in the armed forces, he was commissioned as an officer, then court-martialed after refusing to move to the back of a bus. After he plays in the Negro National League, we watch the opening of an all-American drama as, late in 1945, Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers recognized Jack as the right player to break baseball's color barrier--and the game was forever changed.

Jack's never-before-published letters open up his relationship with his family, especially his wife, Rachel, whom he married just as his perilous venture of integrating baseball began. Her memories are a major resource of the narrative as we learn about the severe harassment Robinson endured from teammates and opponents alike; about death threats and exclusion; about joy and remarkable success. We watch his courageous response to abuse, first as a stoic endurer, then as a fighter who epitomized courage and defiance.

We see his growing friendship with white players like Pee Wee Reese and the black teammates who followed in his footsteps, and his embrace by Brooklyn's fans. We follow his blazing career: 1947, Rookie of the Year; 1949, Most Valuable Player; six pennants in ten seasons, and 1962, induction into the Hall of Fame.

But sports were merely one aspect of his life. We see his business ventures, his leading role in the community, his early support of Martin Luther King Jr., his commitment to the civil rights movement at a crucial stage in its evolution; his controversial associations with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Humphrey, Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, and Malcolm X.

Rampersad's magnificent biography leaves us with an indelible image of a principled man who was passionate in his loyalties and opinions: a baseball player who could focus a crowd's attention as no one before or since; an activist at the crossroads of his people's struggle; a dedicated family man whose last years were plagued by illness and tragedy, and who died prematurely at fifty-two. He was a pathfinder, an American hero, and he now has the biography he deserves.

About this title

Review:

In baseball and beyond, 1997 has been the year of Jackie Robinson, the 50th anniversary of his obliteration of the game's color line, and a time to reflect on a marvelous man whose heroism and decency cut far beyond the foul lines. Arnold Rampersad, a Princeton professor who's edited the poetry of Langston Hughes and the essays of Richard Wright, and collaborated with tennis great Arthur Ashe on his powerful memoir Days of Grace, steps up to the plate here with the first truly comprehensive Robinson biography. It's an important accomplishment, ripe with historical and social insight without losing sight of the human being at its core. Thoroughly researched--Rachel Robinson gave the author access to her husband's personal papers--and filled with fascinating new detail, the book, like its subject, consistently takes the extra base, thrilling with its overall skill, depth, and perspective.

From the Back Cover:

"An elegantly rendered, meticulously documented narrative . . . Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn the Jackie Robinson story."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A MARVELOUS, RIVETING BIOGRAPHY . . .
RAMPERSAD DOES A MASTERFUL JOB."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"MAGNIFICENT . . . One of the many merits of his book is the way it probes deeply beneath the surface of the legend, with all of its overtones of racial martyrdom and endurance, reminding us that Jackie Robinson was a man of many lives--a complex figure whose life both preceded his historic encounter with Branch Rickey and whose work extended well beyond the decade of 1947-1957, the years he played for the Dodgers. . . . Jackie Robinson accurately captures both the grandeur of the historic moment Robinson helped to create and the poignancy of its passing. In the final analysis, Jackie Robinson evokes a time, a place, and a mood difficult, if not impossible, to recover in the waning years of the century."
--The Boston Globe

"TIME AND TIME AGAIN . . . READING RAMPERSAD'S ACCOUNT OF ROBINSON'S LIFE AFTER BASEBALL . . . WE MARVEL. . . . WE SEE JUST HOW REMARKABLE A MAN ROBINSON WAS."
--The Washington Post

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 034542655X
• ISBN 13: 9780345426550
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560