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The Man Who Stared Down World War II in the Name of Love
by Ethelene Whitmire
The dramatic and heartrending true story of one remarkable young man's account of love in the time of war, by a celebrated historian of untold Black stories.
On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.
Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram, she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him.
"[Reed Peggram's] extraordinary story comes to life in this dazzling biography from historian Whitmire … a vivid glimpse of queer Black life at an exceptionally tumultuous historical moment." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A sympathetic portrait of an extraordinary man." —Kirkus Reviews
"Peggram's story could be an alternative version of Casablanca ... Whitmire's biography brings this brave, decent man the recognition that is only now being given to so many unheralded Black Americans." —BookPage
"Ethelene Whitmire has given a great gift to readers, rescuing a fascinating character from the mist of history and presenting his story in vivid detail and graceful prose. The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram more than lives up to its title, reminding us that the struggle for freedom is a tale worth telling from as many angles as possible." —Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life
"A remarkable and absorbing story about an exceptional man ... This book allows us to see World War II and African American history with fresh eyes. Whitmire's deeply researched account is proof that history can sometimes be more surprising than fiction." —Matthew F. Delmont, author of Half American: The Heroic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad
This information about The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
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