December 2019 Nonfiction First Editions Club Pick

New York, NY: Hanover Square Press (pub: November 5, 2019)

First Edition. Signed by Phil Keith.

As new in dust jacket.

For readers of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Hidden Figures, the incredible life story of Eugene Bullard, the first African American military pilot to fly in combat, and the only African American pilot in World War I, who went on to become a self-taught jazz musician, a Paris nightclub impresario, a spy in the French Resistance, and finally an American civil rights pioneer, by the award-winning and bestselling historians Phil Keith and Tom Clavin.

Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. The son of a former slave and a Creek Indian, 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 18 he settled in Paris, a beloved celebrity and bon vivant. A year later World War I broke out.

Bullard joined the foreign legion, where he went on to become the first African-American fighter pilot in history. After the war, Bullard returned to Praris 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. His counted Picasso, Josephine Baker, and Man Rey 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 asssitant for Louis Armstrong.

All Blood Runs Red is the dramatic untold story of an American hero, a though-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.

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

TOM CLAVIN is the author of 18 nonfiction books and has worked as a newspaper and web site editor, magazine writer, TV and radio commentator, and a reporter for the New York Times covering entertainment, sports, and the environment. His latest book, Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West (St. Martin’s Press, March 2017) became an immediate New York Times and national bestseller. Three previous books have also been New York Times bestsellers: The Heart of Everything That Is, The Last Stand of Fox Company, and Halsey’s Typhoon.