“a biography skillfully rendered, never a mere recitation of events in sequential order, but rather an engrossing narrative that clearly admires its subject but does not fawn…a narrative that is rich in detail and anecdote, is well paced, highly readable and sometimes moving.” – Bill Thompson, Charleston Post and Courier
“Elegantly traces Robertson’s life story…puts Robertson’s story into a compelling narrative that contextualizes Robertson as a son of the South and an actor in big-time journalism who grappled with injustice, inequality, and racism. Peeler manages to do all of it without resorting to hagiography.” – Dr. Melita Garza, Journal of Southern History
People know Ben Robertson for his 1942 book Red Hills and Cotton: An Upcountry Memory. There was a lot more to his story than that, however. Robertson was a newspaperman, adventurer, social critic, war correspondent, political adviser, world traveler, novelist…you name it. His circles included everyone from people in his South Carolina hometown to the likes of Edward R. Murrow, Blanche Knopf, Ernie Pyle and Lady Astor. He packed more life into his 39 years than most of us could live in two lifetimes. A critic of segregation, an advocate for updating the Southern economic system, Robertson had hoped to enter politics after World War II. His death in a 1943 plane crash, while en route to take over the London bureau of the New York Herald-Tribune, stilled the voice of a man who had a vision for an inclusive, compassionate South that would acknowledge the realities of modern times.
This book grew out of my 2001 doctoral dissertation. I spent a great deal of time burrowing through Robertson’s papers, which are now held in the collections of Clemson University, as well as the papers of associates such as Wright Bryan and John Lane. It includes material not often seen, such as quotes from Robertson’s personal diaries. I also plowed through a lot of Robertson’s wartime reporting for PM, the short-lived New York daily. It’s the most complete telling of Robertson’s story to date. I don’t know why no one had done it before now, because his life was brief but fascinating.
You can order a copy from the University of South Carolina Press. (I’ll appreciate your dealing directly through them. I don’t make as much if you order through that big popular webstore, if you catch my drift.)