Description
Book SynopsisPresenting a portrait of engaged, activist lives in the 1930s, this book features a global network of individuals and organizations that posed challenges to the racism and colonialism of the era. It positions race at the center of the British, imperial, and transatlantic political culture of the 1930s.
Trade Review"Pennybacker's meticulous work examines the confluence of antislavery, anticolonial, and antifascist activities in 1930s Britain. The British, appalled by the oppression of African Americans in the Jim Crow South, identified brutality against nonwhites as a peculiarly American sort of repression."--Choice "[T]his is an indispensable book for anybody seeking a deeper understanding of the racial politics of 1930s Britain, and their place within broader global historical and geographical networks of advocacy and engagement."--Daniel Wittall, Basa "From Scottsboro to Munich is strongly recommended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in 20th-century history and politics."--Charles H. Ford, Journal of African American History "This is an intricate and important history that no review can recount in all its complexity. It suggests not only the value of taking historical writing beyond the confines of the nation but also some of the narrative trials that await both writers and readers of this new transnational history."--Andrew Zimmerman, Journal of Southern History "The book adds much detail and nuance to the already well-known tragedy of the divided European left in the interwar years... The reader finishes this complex and depressing tale persuaded that, as the author argues, racial and imperial politics prove essential in understanding the 1930s."--Laura Tabili, Journal of Modern History "From Scottsboro to Munich draws on a wide range of archival sources, including much Comintern and Profintern material that has recently become available from Moscow. It also shows a particular and welcome sensitivity to mixed media of expressive culture. The framing of its disparate and, again, contradictory subject is generally very sharp."-- James Smethurst, African American Review
Table of ContentsList of Figures vii Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Ada Wright and Scottsboro 16 Chapter 2: George Padmore and London 66 Chapter 3: Lady Kathleen Simon and Antislavery 103 Chapter 4: Saklatvala and the Meerut Trial 146 Chapter 5: Diasporas: Refugees and Exiles 200 Chapter 6: A Thieves' Kitchen, 1938-39 240 Conclusion 265 Chronology 275 Notes on Sources 279 Notes 283 Glossary 341 Bibliography 353 Index 371
