Blacks, Reds, and Russians: Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise

by Joy Gleason Carew

Carew, Professor Joy Gleason

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia

273 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[E. Merrill Brouder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carew's Blacks, Reds, and Russians is a model for another kind of literary scholarship. Blending literary criticism with a series of biographies and a compelling historical narrative, Carew tells the story of the black American intellectuals, artists, scientists, and specialists who traveled or lived in the Soviet Union during the interwar years and beyond. With an authority and sensitivity that can only come from the combination of personal experience and a staggering amount of research, she discovers how the unique position of black Americans in the Soviet Union shaped their work in Russia and Central Asia, as well as political and race relations back in the United States. I was particularly interested in her research that revealed—in often unsettling terms—what these Americans did or did not know or see or experience in regards to purges, ethnic cleansing, poverty, racism, propaganda, communist collaboration with the capitalist west, engineered famine, antisemitism, and the other less savory features of soviet history in the '20s, '30s, '40s, and '50s. Her research into and explanations of the internal debate on these subjects between this small black community demonstrates the best way a project like hers can be done, as it constantly reminds the reader of the diversity that can exist even within a group that one might first expect to be highly niche and monolithic.

[Merricat Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think this book is a major masterpiece or anything but, speaking personally, I was captivated. It's a small slice of history that touches on a few well-known figures--Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois--and many more obscure individuals. It gives a richly shaded portrait of the USSR in a tumultuous few decades. The book doesn't shy away from portraying the hell of the 1930s famines and Stalin's purges, but it also acknowledges that that same country was a refuge for people fleeing different hells in the US. Carew doesn't have any particularly strong thesis to advance about the USSR; she just offers up a lot of different individual ways of looking at its history, each one vivid and textured.

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched piece of history about Black Americans who traveled to the Soviet Union during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. An often intentionally forgotten chapter of the Black radical struggle. Wish the book was longer and had more details, but I suppose part of the difficulty is the limited sources on this material. Still a great book.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book- I love Russian Literature and History, and have traveled to Russia and former Soviet nations many times. This was interesting, and well researched. Unique. I would recommend it to fellow history enthusiasts, as well as those with interests in Russian or Black studies.