57 pages • 1 hour read
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2014) by Jeff Hobbs is a biography that chronicles the life of Rob Peace, a brilliant young Black man. Raised in East Orange, a crime-ridden suburb of Newark, New Jersey, Rob overcame numerous barriers to study biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Yale University. Despite academic success and a seemingly bright future, his life was tragically cut short when he was killed in a drug-related shooting at the age of 30. As Hobbs chronicles Rob Peace’s journey, he also explores broader themes of race and class, focusing on the challenges Rob faced in achieving his potential in a society riddled with inequalities. The memoir was the runner-up for the 2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction and was adapted into the 2024 movie Rob Peace.
This guide uses the 2014 eBook edition published by Scribner.
Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, substance use, mental illness, death, and pregnancy loss.
Summary
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace is written by Rob’s former Yale roommate, Jeff Hobbs, who pieces together Rob’s life story based on the accounts of those who knew him.
Born in 1980, Robert DeShaun Peace grew up in East Orange, a suburb of Newark, New Jersey.
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