The Two of Us

by Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse

Hardcover Very Good in Good jacket Book. 6 1/4 By 9 1/4`` 1st printing, page edges foxed. DJ has damage to ends of spine, some shelfware. She danced and he sang, what a duo on stage. Hollywood stars. 1976

Genres: Biography

286 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Tony Martin (February 21, 1942 – January 17, 2013) was a Trinidad-born professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. He retired in June 2007 as professor emeritus after 34 years teaching at the Africana Studies Department, where he was a founding member.

He was a lecturer and author of scholarly articles about Black History. His written works about the plagiarism by the Greeks of African philosophy, and statements regarding Jewish involvement in the American slave trade have both been a source of ongoing controversy.

In October 1991, a Wellesley student, Michelle Plantec, while on hall duty, claimed that she saw Martin wandering in a female dorm in a restricted area, in violation of a rule requiring male guests to be escorted. When she asked him about his escort, Martin, she claims, responded using profanity, accused her of racism and bigotry, and positioned himself so as to physically intimidate her. Martin denied all these claims, and declared that a group of women "accosted him rudely, despite circumstances that in his view made the legitimacy of his presence obvious."

In an interview with a campus newspaper, Plantec said: "I stopped him and said, 'Excuse me, sir, who are you with?' He looked at me and said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'What Wellesley student are you with?' and at that point he exploded and called me a fucking bitch, a racist, and a bigot, among other things. ...After all this, he went back into his meeting and said the only reason I had stopped him was because he was black.

Out of this grew Martin's most famous book, The Jewish Onslaught: Despatches from the Wellesley Battlefront. The Chair of Martin's department at Wellesley, Selwyn R. Cudjoe, labelled Martin's book "Gangsta history, meant to demean and to defame others and to bring them into disrepute, rather than to enlighten and to lead us to a more complex and sophisticated understanding of social phenomena. It ought to be labeled anti-Semitic." The majority of the Wellesley faculty signed a statement condemning Martin's work "for its racial and ethnic stereotyping and for its anti-Semitism."

Martin's book was also criticized in a statement by the president of Wellesley College:
[The book] gratuitously attacks individuals and groups at Wellesley College through innuendo and the application of racial and religious stereotype.... Despite Professor Martin's incendiary words, and his attempt to portray Wellesley College as a repressive institution bent on silencing him, we will continue to recognize his right to express himself.

In June 2002, Martin presented a talk entitled Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech at the 14th IHR Conference sponsored by the Institute for Historical Review. The Institute for Historical Review is devoted to anti-Semitic literature and especially Holocaust denial and has been linked to neo-Nazi groups. since 1995 it has been headed by a member of the white supremacist National Alliance.

Wikipedia

Reviews

[Scott Fuchs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin starts off strong and ends up with a pretty strong braggadocio effort. Some protestations of scandal doth seem to be protested too much. Many of his remembrances do strain credability
As for Charisse ............... wow, does this gal sound cold, stand-offish and [although denying it] possessed of a true puritan ethic.
Between the boring format of 'I wrote..." alternating chapters, one yearns for what is left untold.
However, for a guy like me who has always thrived on the MGM musicals of the 40s and 50s, there's a lot of anecdotes and dish to have made the book a lot of fun.

[Herb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An older book, the dual autobiography of Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin. The two stars rotate writing chapters, so you can read all of her chapters first, then all of his, or vice versa. This is especially poignant, in light of Cyd Charisse's recent death.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They said it wouldn't last" and at the time of writing, it had been some twenty-five years. At the time of reading - when Cyd Charisse was still alive - it was at least another twenty-five years. Magical.

[Carmelina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in some parts. Found Martin at times too much of a show off and in the end couldn't wait to finish it.