Black Maverick Now Being Advertised

Warning: shameless self-promotion. While my book (co-authored by Linda Beito) won’t be out until March or April, it is now being advertised by the University of Illinois Press. So far the press is doing a great promotional job. Here is the advertising copy (including blurbs by Juan Williams and Julian Bond):

The long-awaited biography of a colorful and enterprising civil rights leader
In whatever role he chose—civil rights leader, wealthy entrepreneur, or unconventional surgeon—Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (1908-76) was always close to controversy. One of the leading renaissance men of twentieth century black history, Howard successfully organized a grassroots boycott against Jim Crow in the 1950s. Well known for his benevolence, fun-loving lifestyle, and fabulous parties attended by such celebrities as Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson, he could also be difficult to work with when he let his boundless ego get the best of him. A trained medical doctor, he kept the secrets of the white elite, and although married to one woman for forty years, he had many personal peccadilloes. But T. R. M. Howard’s impressive accomplishments and abilities vastly outshone his personal flaws and foibles. He was a dynamic civil rights pioneer and promoter of self-help and business enterprise among blacks.

With this remarkable biography, David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito secure Howard’s rightful place in African American history. Drawing from dozens of interviews with Howard’s friends and contemporaries, as well as FBI files, court documents, and private papers, the authors present a fittingly vibrant portrait of a complicated leader, iconoclastic businessman, and tireless activist.

“Black Maverick’s wonderfully told story about an important personality sadly unknown to most students of the Civil Rights Movement is a more than welcome corrective. Dr. Howard’s life and accomplishments need to be better known!”
—Julian Bond, Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

“Dr. Howard was a history maker, and this book brings him to life as a man of courage whose actions and views on civil rights shaped American history.”
—Juan Williams, commentator for National Public Radio and author of Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965