All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard--Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy

by Tom Clavin, Phil Keith, James Shippy (Read by)

Overview

The incredible life story of Eugene Bullard, the first African American military pilot in WWI, who went on to become a self-taught jazz musician, a Paris nightclub impresario, a spy in the French Resistance and an American civil rights pioneer, for readers of Unbroken and Hidden Figures.

Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. The son of a former slave and an indigenous Creek woman, Bullard fled home at the age of eleven to escape the racial hostility of his Georgia community. His five-year journey led him to a tramp steamer bound for Europe. There he discovered boxing, climbed the ranks and garnered worldwide fame as the “Black Sparrow.” At eighteen he settled in Paris as a beloved celebrity and bon vivant. A year later World War I broke out.

Bullard joined the French Foreign Legion, where he went on to become the first African American fighter pilot in history. After the war, Bullard returned to Paris a decorated war hero and leveraged his celebrity to become a fixture of Parisian nightclub society. Hemingway and Fitzgerald drank champagne at his club. A young Langston Hughes worked as a busboy. He counted Picasso, Josephine Baker and Man Ray as friends. He married a French countess and they had two daughters. At the dawn of World War II, with echoes of Casablanca, Bullard became a French spy, drawing Nazi soldiers to his club and conducting crucial surveillance for the Allies. After fleeing Paris he joined the Resistance before being safely smuggled onto a ship bound for America. He lived out the rest of his life in Harlem with his daughters, working as an assistant for Louis Armstrong.

All Blood Runs Red is the dramatic untold story of an American hero, a thought-provoking survey of the twentieth century and a portrait of a man who came from nothing and by his own courage, determination, gumption, intelligence and luck forged a legendary life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094002354
Publisher:	Harlequin Audio
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Edition description:	Library ed.
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.50(h) x 5.00(d)

About the Author

Phil Keith is the author of six books, including Blackhorse Riders, which won the 2012 award from USA Book News for Best Military Nonfiction, was a finalist for the 2013 Colby Award,and earned a 2013 silver medal from the Military Writers Society of America. He holds a degree in history from Harvard and is a former US Navy aviator. During three tours in Vietnam, he served with distinction and was awarded, among other decorations, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, and the Navy Commendation Medal.

Tom Clavin is the author of the sports book Sir Walter, the coauthor of several more sports books, and the coauthor of such national bestselling titles as Last Men Out, Halsey’s Typhoon, and The Last Stand of Fox Company.

Editorial Reviews

Eugene Bullard lived enough for a dozen interesting men, and All Blood Runs Red tells his story in a captivating way that keeps the pages turning for the next chapter. Keith and Clavin bring us a well-crafted book about a truly admirable American.”—Gregory A. Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II



“An exultant trumpet song to the human spirit. My God, how I admire this man.”—Robert Coram, author of Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

From the Publisher

06/01/2019

The son of a former slave and a Creek Indian, Eugene Bullard fled racist Georgia at age 11, landed in Paris five years later, and soon emerged as the world-famous boxer Black Sparrow. He joined the Foreign Legion when World War I broke out, becoming the first African American fighter pilot in history, and returned a war hero to Paris, where he became a night club impresario, married a French countess, and, during World War II, became a French spy. He spent his last days in Harlem with his daughters as an assistant to Louis Armstrong. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal