| Author: | Vladimir Alexandrov | ISBN: | 9780802193766 |
| Publisher: | Grove Atlantic | Publication: | March 5, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Atlantic Monthly Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | Vladimir Alexandrov |
| ISBN: | 9780802193766 |
| Publisher: | Grove Atlantic |
| Publication: | March 5, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Atlantic Monthly Press |
| Language: | English |
The astonishingly true journey of a young black American finding fame and fortune in Moscow and Constantinople at the turn of the twentieth century.
In “an extraordinary story interpreted with great sensitivity,” The Black Russian tells the true story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi (New York Review of Books). After his father was brutally murdered, Frederick left the South and worked as a waiter in Chicago and Brooklyn. Seeking greater freedom, he traveled to London, then crisscrossed Europe, and—in a highly unusual choice for a black American at the time—went to Russia.
Because he found no color line there, Frederick settled in Moscow, becoming a rich and famous owner of variety theaters and restaurants. When the Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, he barely escaped to Constantinople, where he made another fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs as the “Sultan of Jazz.” Sadly, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick’s own extravagance brought his memorable life to a sad close, landing him in debtor’s prison, where he died a forgotten man in Constantinople in 1928. “In his assiduously researched, prodigiously descriptive, fluently analytical, and altogether astonishing work of resurrection” (Booklist, starred review), Alexandrov “vaults breathlessly from set-piece to set-piece” (Spectator), rendering “a tale so colourful it reads more like a novel than biography.” (Literary Review).
The astonishingly true journey of a young black American finding fame and fortune in Moscow and Constantinople at the turn of the twentieth century.
In “an extraordinary story interpreted with great sensitivity,” The Black Russian tells the true story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi (New York Review of Books). After his father was brutally murdered, Frederick left the South and worked as a waiter in Chicago and Brooklyn. Seeking greater freedom, he traveled to London, then crisscrossed Europe, and—in a highly unusual choice for a black American at the time—went to Russia.
Because he found no color line there, Frederick settled in Moscow, becoming a rich and famous owner of variety theaters and restaurants. When the Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, he barely escaped to Constantinople, where he made another fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs as the “Sultan of Jazz.” Sadly, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick’s own extravagance brought his memorable life to a sad close, landing him in debtor’s prison, where he died a forgotten man in Constantinople in 1928. “In his assiduously researched, prodigiously descriptive, fluently analytical, and altogether astonishing work of resurrection” (Booklist, starred review), Alexandrov “vaults breathlessly from set-piece to set-piece” (Spectator), rendering “a tale so colourful it reads more like a novel than biography.” (Literary Review).
