by Jeff Hobbs
Nathan, Carl, Diandra, Cory, Dante, Garcia, Camilla—and all members of the Peace family—you have invited me into your homes and trusted me with your memories. My greatest aspiration in writing this book has been to earn that trust.
Jackie Peace, you have spent dozens of hours talking to me during the hardest years of your life, and about the man whose loss has made them so. You are a truly great woman, and I am a lucky man to have been able to call your son my friend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Caldwell, 2013
Jeff Hobbs grew up in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He attended Yale University, where he won the Meeker Prize for his writing and the Gardner Millett Award for his running. After graduating with a BA in English language and literature, he spent three years living alternately in New York City and Tanzania while working as executive director for the African Rainforest Conservancy. His first novel, The Tourists, was published in 2007 by Simon & Schuster. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
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ALSO BY JEFF HOBBS
The Tourists
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Copyright © 2014 by Jeff Hobbs
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First Scribner hardcover edition September 2014
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Jacket design by Rodrigo Corral
Jacket photograph by Yesenia Vasquez, 2005
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hobbs, Jeff.
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace : a brilliant young man who left Newark for the Ivy League / Jeff Hobbs.
pages cm
1. Peace, Robert, 1980–2010. 2. Hobbs, Jeff, 1980—Friends and associates. 3. Yale University—Alumni and alumnae—Biography. 4. Working-class African American college graduates—Biography. 6. Drug dealers—New Jersey—Biography. I. Title E185.97.P38H63 2014
974.9’044092—dc23 2014001213
[B]
ISBN 978-1-4767-3190-2
ISBN 978-1-4767-3192-6 (ebook)
Photograph credits: p. 1 courtesy of Jackie Peace, 1985; p. 74 courtesy of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School; p. 75 courtesy of Jackie Peace, 1996; p. 122 courtesy of Curtis Gamble, 1998; p. 123 courtesy of Yesenia Vasquez, 2001; p. 202 courtesy of Danny Nelson, 2002; p. 203 courtesy of Adam Stockett, 2005; p. 284 courtesy of Curtis Gamble, 2003; p. 285 courtesy of Hrvoje Dundovic, 2010; p. 332 courtesy of Curtis Gamble, 2003; p. 333 courtesy of Yesenia Vasquez, 2009; p. 402 courtesy of Jeff Hobbs, 2012.