Vladimir AlexandrovBlackstone Publishing, Blackstone Publishing9780802120694
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The Black Russian is the incredible story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi.
A rich white planter's attempt to steal their land forced them to flee to Memphis, where Frederick's father was brutally murdered. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in
Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and—in a highly unusual choice for a Black American at the time—went to Russia in 1899.
Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship. Through his hard
work, charm, and guile he became one of the city's richest and most famous owners of variety theaters and restaurants.
But the Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, and he barely escaped with his life and family to Constantinople in 1919. Starting from scratch, he made a second fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs
that introduced jazz to Turkey.
However, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick's own extravagance landed him in debtors' prison. He died in Constantinople in 1928.
The Black Russian is the incredible story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi.
A rich white planter's attempt to steal their land forced them to flee to Memphis, where Frederick's father was brutally murdered. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in
Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and—in a highly unusual choice for a Black American at the time—went to Russia in 1899.
Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship. Through his hard
work, charm, and guile he became one of the city's richest and most famous owners of variety theaters and restaurants.
But the Bolshevik Revolution ruined him, and he barely escaped with his life and family to Constantinople in 1919. Starting from scratch, he made a second fortune by opening celebrated nightclubs
that introduced jazz to Turkey.
However, the long arm of American racism, the xenophobia of the new Turkish Republic, and Frederick's own extravagance landed him in debtors' prison. He died in Constantinople in 1928.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“That truth is ever stranger than fiction is
underscored by the story of Frederick Bruce Thomas. The highs and lows of
Thomas’ unlikely life journey are skillfully unfurled by Vladimir Alexandrov.” —Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of A Slave in the White House
“A remarkable story about a formidable man. A
story Alexandrov has uncovered and masterfully told.” —Winnipeg Free Press
“It is a testament to Thomas’ unlikely success
in Moscow, but also to Alexandrov’s frisson-inducing account of myriad
adventures along the way, that The Black Russian emerges as
deeply satisfying despite its subject’s woebegone end…By its very nature, the
victory of an underdog has a restorative effect on flagging enthusiasm in
life’s opportunities. And what triumph against the odds could prove more
rousing than that of Frederick Bruce Thomas…[who] becomes the king of
nightlife?” —Brooklyn Rail
“With so much focus on the black experience in
America in the nineteenth century, we might never consider the black experience
in Europe at the same time. Vladimir Alexandrov’s The Black Russian rectifies
this oversight, and does so with panache. His tale is the biography of an
individual who is wholly remarkable, regardless of race, and whose vitality,
guile, and charm led him from Mississippi to Moscow, with plenty of adventures
along the way…Alexandrov transports the reader to an exotic era. Some of the most
memorable parts of Thomas’ life story lie in the incidental grace notes that
add color to the lands through which he traveled.” —Daily Beast
“[A] magnetically appealing, unforgettable biography…In his
assiduously researched, prodigiously descriptive, fluently analytical, and
altogether astonishing work of resurrection, Alexandrov provides uniquely
focused accounts of racial struggles in America and decadence and bloodshed in
Europe and Russia while insightfully and dynamically portraying a singular man.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Intriguing…Set against the dramatic backdrop of the upheavals in Russia and Turkey
in the early twentieth century, this biography will interest those who enjoy a
good rags-to-riches story (albeit an ultimately sad one).” —Library Journal
“A compelling narrative of [a] powerful and
complex man.” —Shelf Awareness
“In The Black Russian, Vladimir
Alexandrov provides a powerful counternarrative to the conventional Great
Migration story of southern blacks migrating north en masse in the decades
after the Civil War. He tells instead the tale of Frederick Bruce Thomas, son
of a slave, who left the United States to hopscotch through Europe…In assembling
the facts of Thomas’ story, Alexandrov relates in vivid detail the political,
financial, and emotional highs and lows of this man’s incredible life.” —Carla L. Peterson, author of Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City
“As the granddaughter of a family that escaped
from Russia because of the Bolshevik Revolution, I read The Black
Russian in one sitting. Vladimir Alexandrov has done more than tell
the story of a forgotten man, he has woven a fascinating tapestry of Moscow
life before the October Revolution. The reader is offered a unique front-row
seat to Moscow’s pre-revolutionary beau monde and a
hair-raising escape days before the Bolshevik takeover. Frederick Thomas’
unlikely ascent from Mississippi farm boy to Moscow impresario is a surprising
tale with those most American of themes: tenacity and self-invention.” —Olga Andreyev Carlisle, author of Solzhenitsyn and the Secret Circle
“Hang on for the ride of a lifetime. With the
verve of a novelist, historian Alexandrov takes one on an adventure through
pre-war Mississippi, London, Paris, Tsarist Russia, and the Bolshevik
Revolution, ending up in decadent Constantinople.” —John Bailey, author of The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
“A wild life of intrigue, deception, and beating
the odds…[Frederick] Thomas’ story is certainly interesting, particularly since
he was able to thrive in Europe in a way most African American men of his generation
couldn’t dream of…[The Black Russian is] a good choice for those
who enjoy reading about life’s underdogs.” —Kirkus Reviews
“As a reader, I found myself fascinated by this
well-written story. As a writer, I found myself envious of Vladimir Alexandrov
for having discovered such a remarkable man whose life, both triumphant and
tragic, spans continents, wars, and a revolution—and whom no one seems to have
noticed before. An extraordinary and gripping book.” —Adam Hochschild, National Book Award nominee
“This well-written book is about one of the most
fascinating black men of modern times. Like Jack Johnson, Frederick Thomas was
a brilliant, proud, and ambitious black man who experienced the heights of
success and the depths of failure—in a foreign land. Don’t miss this masterful
work!” —Cornel West
“In The Black Russian, Vladimir
Alexandrov tells the keenly researched and vividly written story of one of the
more extraordinary characters in African American history. Alexandrov deftly
brings to life the succession of complex milieus in the United States, France,
Russia, and Turkey in which Frederick Bruce Thomas achieved both his improbable
successes and his haunting defeats. This is a tale to remember.” —Arnold Rampersad, Pulitzer Prize nominee
“A detailed, readable history of Gilded Age
America and the politics and cultural life of early twentieth-century Russia—one
whose common thread is a man with expansive dreams who was lucky enough to be
able to leave his homeland to realize them.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Although Alexandrov constructed this vessel
with sturdy timbers of historical research, it sails lightly on a swift
narrative current that transports us from Reconstruction Mississippi to
Memphis, New York City, London, Paris, Moscow, and, finally, Constantinople…Alexandrov
excels at re-creating the various worlds Thomas inhabited—from his restricted
existence during Reconstruction to his glittering fast-lane life on the
Continent…What [Thomas’] life illustrates, as Alexandrov skillfully and
gracefully shows, is that when people are unshackled from slaveries—of whatever
sort—freedom’s buoyancy can lift them to surprising heights, can offer
miraculous views.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
“[A] gracefully written feat of historical
sleuthing…Through prodigious archival research, historical scholarship, and
painstaking reconstruction of secondhand accounts, [Alexandrov] has drawn a
moving and vivid portrait of a remarkable American life.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“The Black
Russian vaults breathlessly from set-piece to set-piece as it traces the
journey of its hero…Grand tableaux of nineteenth-century America and
late-tsarist Russia are rendered in crisp, compelling prose…Most evocative of
all is an account of 1920s Constantinople, which Alexandrov describes with
dizzying relish…The narrative teems with wonderfully unsalubrious characters…panache
and engaging detail. Like Thomas’ midnight cabarets, it provides a thoroughly
enjoyable display.” —Spectator (London)
Vladimir Alexandrov received a PhD in comparative literature from Princeton. He taught Russian literature and culture at Harvard before moving to Yale, where he is B. E. Bensinger Professor
of Slavic Languages and Literatures. He is the author of books on Bely, Nabokov, and Tolstoy and has published numerous articles on various other Russian writers and topics.
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Details
Details
Format:
CD
Available Formats :
CD
Category:
Nonfiction/Biography & Autobiography
Publisher:
Blackstone Publishing
CDs:
8
Runtime:
10.38
ISBN:
9781482944594
Purchased:
0 copies
Audience:
Adult
Language:
English
AE Catalog ID:
E8B459
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