Episode 509: Howard Bryant Masterfully Braids History in ’Kings and Pawns’

"Characters make books. Why are these guys in opposition? And were they actually really? How can you be in opposition with someone you never met? How can you be in opposition with somebody who's essentially sharing the same plight you're sharing in the country? And that brings in the other character. It's Branch Rickey. Branch Rickey is the puppet master of this entire book. Branch Rickey is the puppet master of that entire period," says Howard Bryant, author of Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America.

We’ve got Howard Bryant (@howardbryantbooks) back on the show for Ep. 509. Howard is the best-selling author of several books and his latest is Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America. It’s published by Mariner Books.

Howard’s book takes a new framing on two iconic Black American icons of the 20th century. Very few people know much about Paul Robeson, who was a brilliant football player, but perhaps more famous as a baritone singer and stage actor. Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to play major league baseball, breaking the color barrier in baseball.

The two were separated by some twenty years, never met in person, but were pitted against each other during the second Red Scare, kings turned into pawns. The authoritarian, McCarythian overreach of the era very much echoes our current moment. Robeson’s career, his life, was ruined. It’s a complicated story brilliantly orchestrated by one of the best writers this country has on offer.

Howard is the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball, Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original, The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, and Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and he also was the guest editor of The Best American Sports Writing Series. You’re in for a treat. You can learn more about Howard at howardbryant.net and follow him on IG @howardbryantbooks.

In this episode we talk about:

• When you know it’s a book
• Who are your stars?
• How he reshaped the book by fixing the introduction
• How he bridged the gap between Robinson and Robeson’s timelines
• How Branch Rickey, this vaunted angle of integration, wasn’t exactly so holy
• And Howard’s favorite thing about writing

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Show notes: brendanomeara.com