The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781476731902)

A heartfelt, and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets--and of one's own nature--when he returns home.

When author Jeff Hobbs arrived at Yale University, he became fast friends with the man who would be his college roommate for four years, Robert Peace. Robert's life was rough from the beginning in the crime-ridden streets of Newark in the 1980s, with his father in jail and his mother earning less than $15,000 a year. But Robert was a brilliant student, and it was supposed to get easier when he was accepted to Yale, where he studied molecular biochemistry and biophysics. But it didn't get easier. Robert carried with him the difficult dual nature of his existence, "fronting" in Yale, and at home.

Through an honest rendering of Robert's relationships--with his struggling mother, with his incarcerated father, with his teachers and friends and fellow drug dealers--The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. It's about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds--the ivy-covered campus of Yale University and Newark, New Jersey, and the difficulty of going from one to the other and then back again. It's about poverty, the challenges of single motherhood, and the struggle to find male role models in a community where a man is more likely to go to prison than to college. It's about reaching one's greatest potential and taking responsibility for your family no matter the cost. It's about trying to live a decent life in America. But most all the story is about the tragic life of one singular brilliant young man. His end, a violent one, is heartbreaking and powerful and unforgettable.

Author: Jeff Hobbs
ISBN-10: 147673190X
ISBN-13: 9781476731902
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Language: English
Published: 09/23/2014
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.40w x 1.30d
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Winner
Award: Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Runner-Up

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/01/2014 pg. 68
Publishers Weekly 07/28/2014
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2014
Library Journal 09/01/2014 pg. 129
People Weekly 09/29/2014 pg. 50
Booklist 09/15/2014 pg. 17
New York Times Book Review 09/21/2014 pg. 1
Shelf Awareness 09/26/2014
New York Times Book Review 09/28/2014 pg. 30
Entertainment Weekly 10/10/2014 pg. 69
Library Journal 11/01/2014 pg. 100
New Yorker (The) 11/03/2014 pg. 95
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/03/2014 pg. 36
Essence 12/01/2014 pg. 66
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/07/2014 pg. 28
Shelf Awareness 12/12/2014
Kirkus Best Nonfiction 12/01/2014 pg. 25
Entertainment Weekly 12/12/2014 pg. 75
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2015 pg. 8
Booklist Ed Choice Adu Bk YA's 01/01/2015 pg. 14
Library Journal 04/01/2014