This is a well researched and impressive biography of activist and newspaperman William Monroe Trotter. Born in Boston he attended Harvard with dreams and aspirations of forging a new world where racial equality was prominent. Trotter’s views made him both influential as well as controversial. He spoke out against racial representation, politics and black civil rights.

He began a career in real estate making him one of the wealthiest black men in New England. With his wealth, he launched the Guardian using it as a platform for his activism. The book does a great job of telling a story of a man that has been left untold for so long.

This is an informative, and well-written biography that offers context on how this prominent figure helped shape civil rights activism.