Author: G. Msipa
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1779223811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
As I look back, I am happy that I have lived for so long. It is a happiness shared by many: family members, friends and colleagues. Cephas Msipas memoirs take us back to his birth in Zvishavane in 1931, and they reflect a life dedicated to the welfare of others and the development of his country. Following secondary education at Dadaya Mission, he worked as a teacher in Zvishavane and Kwekwe, where he was active in the Rhodesian African Teachers Association, before moving to Harare in 1958. It was a time of rising nationalism in the capital, and following the banning of the African National Congresss and its successor, the National Democratic Party, Msipa was a founding member of ZAPU, the Zimbabwean African Peoples Union. Thus began an engagement with national politics that would last until he was in his late seventies, furthering his education as a political detainee and, after independence had been won, serving as a deputy minister, minister and provincial governor. The narrative of his life follows the arc of Zimbabwes history, and embraces the people and events that have shaped it. Beyond that, it is the story of a gentle, humorous, committed man who enjoyed a long and loving marriage and continues to fill his retirement with philanthropy and wide-ranging friendships.
In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice: A Memoir
Author: G. Msipa
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1779223811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
As I look back, I am happy that I have lived for so long. It is a happiness shared by many: family members, friends and colleagues. Cephas Msipas memoirs take us back to his birth in Zvishavane in 1931, and they reflect a life dedicated to the welfare of others and the development of his country. Following secondary education at Dadaya Mission, he worked as a teacher in Zvishavane and Kwekwe, where he was active in the Rhodesian African Teachers Association, before moving to Harare in 1958. It was a time of rising nationalism in the capital, and following the banning of the African National Congresss and its successor, the National Democratic Party, Msipa was a founding member of ZAPU, the Zimbabwean African Peoples Union. Thus began an engagement with national politics that would last until he was in his late seventies, furthering his education as a political detainee and, after independence had been won, serving as a deputy minister, minister and provincial governor. The narrative of his life follows the arc of Zimbabwes history, and embraces the people and events that have shaped it. Beyond that, it is the story of a gentle, humorous, committed man who enjoyed a long and loving marriage and continues to fill his retirement with philanthropy and wide-ranging friendships.
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1779223811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
As I look back, I am happy that I have lived for so long. It is a happiness shared by many: family members, friends and colleagues. Cephas Msipas memoirs take us back to his birth in Zvishavane in 1931, and they reflect a life dedicated to the welfare of others and the development of his country. Following secondary education at Dadaya Mission, he worked as a teacher in Zvishavane and Kwekwe, where he was active in the Rhodesian African Teachers Association, before moving to Harare in 1958. It was a time of rising nationalism in the capital, and following the banning of the African National Congresss and its successor, the National Democratic Party, Msipa was a founding member of ZAPU, the Zimbabwean African Peoples Union. Thus began an engagement with national politics that would last until he was in his late seventies, furthering his education as a political detainee and, after independence had been won, serving as a deputy minister, minister and provincial governor. The narrative of his life follows the arc of Zimbabwes history, and embraces the people and events that have shaped it. Beyond that, it is the story of a gentle, humorous, committed man who enjoyed a long and loving marriage and continues to fill his retirement with philanthropy and wide-ranging friendships.
A Question of Freedom
Author: William G. Thomas
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300256272
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 429
Book Description
The story of the longest and most complex legal challenge to slavery in American history For over seventy years and five generations, the enslaved families of Prince George’s County, Maryland, filed hundreds of suits for their freedom against a powerful circle of slaveholders, taking their cause all the way to the Supreme Court. Between 1787 and 1861, these lawsuits challenged the legitimacy of slavery in American law and put slavery on trial in the nation’s capital. Piecing together evidence once dismissed in court and buried in the archives, William Thomas tells an intricate and intensely human story of the enslaved families (the Butlers, Queens, Mahoneys, and others), their lawyers (among them a young Francis Scott Key), and the slaveholders who fought to defend slavery, beginning with the Jesuit priests who held some of the largest plantations in the nation and founded a college at Georgetown. A Question of Freedom asks us to reckon with the moral problem of slavery and its legacies in the present day.
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300256272
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 429
Book Description
The story of the longest and most complex legal challenge to slavery in American history For over seventy years and five generations, the enslaved families of Prince George’s County, Maryland, filed hundreds of suits for their freedom against a powerful circle of slaveholders, taking their cause all the way to the Supreme Court. Between 1787 and 1861, these lawsuits challenged the legitimacy of slavery in American law and put slavery on trial in the nation’s capital. Piecing together evidence once dismissed in court and buried in the archives, William Thomas tells an intricate and intensely human story of the enslaved families (the Butlers, Queens, Mahoneys, and others), their lawyers (among them a young Francis Scott Key), and the slaveholders who fought to defend slavery, beginning with the Jesuit priests who held some of the largest plantations in the nation and founded a college at Georgetown. A Question of Freedom asks us to reckon with the moral problem of slavery and its legacies in the present day.
Just Pursuit
Author: Laura Coates
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982173769
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
"A ... true story and ... account of bias in the courtroom from CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates, recounting her time as a Black female prosecutor for the US Department of Justice"--
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982173769
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
"A ... true story and ... account of bias in the courtroom from CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates, recounting her time as a Black female prosecutor for the US Department of Justice"--
Just Mercy
Author: Bryan Stevenson
Publisher: One World
ISBN: 0812994531
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. “[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Publisher: One World
ISBN: 0812994531
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. “[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
On the Other Side of Freedom
Author: DeRay Mckesson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525560572
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
"Hope and insight and empathy spring from every page. . . . [McKesson] stares down the faces of bigotry and unfreedom and cynicism and doesn't flinch in writing out our marching orders toward freedom." --Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist From the internationally recognized civil rights activist/organizer and host of the podcast Pod Save the People, a meditation on resistance, justice, and freedom, and an intimate portrait of a movement from the front lines. In August 2014, twenty-nine-year-old activist DeRay Mckesson stood with hundreds of others on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, to push a message of justice and accountability. These protests, and others like them in cities across the country, resulted in the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, in his first book, Mckesson lays down the intellectual, pragmatic, and political framework for a new liberation movement. Continuing a conversation about activism, resistance, and justice that embraces our nation's complex history, he dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change. He argues that our best efforts to combat injustice have been stunted by the belief that racism's wounds are history, and suggests that intellectual purity has curtailed optimistic realism. The book offers a new framework and language for understanding the nature of oppression. With it, we can begin charting a course to dismantle the obvious and subtle structures that limit freedom. Honest, courageous, and imaginative, On the Other Side of Freedom is a work brimming with hope. Drawing from his own experiences as an activist, organizer, educator, and public official, Mckesson exhorts all Americans to work to dismantle the legacy of racism and to imagine the best of what is possible. Honoring the voices of a new generation of activists, On the Other Side of Freedom is a visionary's call to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525560572
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
"Hope and insight and empathy spring from every page. . . . [McKesson] stares down the faces of bigotry and unfreedom and cynicism and doesn't flinch in writing out our marching orders toward freedom." --Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist From the internationally recognized civil rights activist/organizer and host of the podcast Pod Save the People, a meditation on resistance, justice, and freedom, and an intimate portrait of a movement from the front lines. In August 2014, twenty-nine-year-old activist DeRay Mckesson stood with hundreds of others on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, to push a message of justice and accountability. These protests, and others like them in cities across the country, resulted in the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, in his first book, Mckesson lays down the intellectual, pragmatic, and political framework for a new liberation movement. Continuing a conversation about activism, resistance, and justice that embraces our nation's complex history, he dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change. He argues that our best efforts to combat injustice have been stunted by the belief that racism's wounds are history, and suggests that intellectual purity has curtailed optimistic realism. The book offers a new framework and language for understanding the nature of oppression. With it, we can begin charting a course to dismantle the obvious and subtle structures that limit freedom. Honest, courageous, and imaginative, On the Other Side of Freedom is a work brimming with hope. Drawing from his own experiences as an activist, organizer, educator, and public official, Mckesson exhorts all Americans to work to dismantle the legacy of racism and to imagine the best of what is possible. Honoring the voices of a new generation of activists, On the Other Side of Freedom is a visionary's call to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in.
Fundraiser A
Author: Robert Blagojevich
Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
ISBN: 1501757059
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Most people will recognize the name Robert Blagojevich as the brother of ill-fated Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. But many don't know why Robert came to work for his brother or how he came to be named as a defendant in the criminal trial accusing Rod of attempting to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder after the presidential election of 2008. Now, Robert offers a brutally honest inside look at what it is like to face the full force and power of the federal government and maintain innocence in a high-profile criminal case. By the time United States of America vs. Rod Blagojevich and Robert Blagojevich was over, one of the most renowned prosecutors in America, Patrick Fitzgerald, had brought down a governor of Illinois for the second time in five years. An investigation that would unseat one of the unindicted "co-conspirators" in the case, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., had begun. And the integrity of President Obama, US Senator Roland Burris, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had been called into question. For the last four months of 2008, Robert was, at his brother's request, the head of Rod's fundraising operation, Friends of Blagojevich. Rod and Robert had taken very different career paths and had drifted apart by middle age. But when Rod asked Robert to help him fundraise—because he couldn't trust anyone else in the role—Robert agreed, honoring his parents' wish that the brothers help one another when needed. In the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago-style politics, operating on an ethical level was not easy, as this telling memoir demonstrates. Robert often had to tell potential donors that there was no quid pro quo for a contribution: giving money did not result in state contracts and certainly didn't result in an appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat. Fundraiser A is a criminal defendant's gripping account of how he rose to the biggest challenge of his life and beat the odds of a 96 percent Department of Justice conviction rate to walk away with his freedom. It offers not only a previously untold story of a fascinating trial with well-known, colorful characters that captured the attention of the nation, but also a look at a universal relationship—brothers—as well as the theme of a David ordinary citizen facing the Goliath federal government. Those who enjoy legal thrillers, political dramas, family sagas, and all things Chicago will be especially interested in this memoir.
Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
ISBN: 1501757059
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
Most people will recognize the name Robert Blagojevich as the brother of ill-fated Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. But many don't know why Robert came to work for his brother or how he came to be named as a defendant in the criminal trial accusing Rod of attempting to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder after the presidential election of 2008. Now, Robert offers a brutally honest inside look at what it is like to face the full force and power of the federal government and maintain innocence in a high-profile criminal case. By the time United States of America vs. Rod Blagojevich and Robert Blagojevich was over, one of the most renowned prosecutors in America, Patrick Fitzgerald, had brought down a governor of Illinois for the second time in five years. An investigation that would unseat one of the unindicted "co-conspirators" in the case, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., had begun. And the integrity of President Obama, US Senator Roland Burris, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had been called into question. For the last four months of 2008, Robert was, at his brother's request, the head of Rod's fundraising operation, Friends of Blagojevich. Rod and Robert had taken very different career paths and had drifted apart by middle age. But when Rod asked Robert to help him fundraise—because he couldn't trust anyone else in the role—Robert agreed, honoring his parents' wish that the brothers help one another when needed. In the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago-style politics, operating on an ethical level was not easy, as this telling memoir demonstrates. Robert often had to tell potential donors that there was no quid pro quo for a contribution: giving money did not result in state contracts and certainly didn't result in an appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat. Fundraiser A is a criminal defendant's gripping account of how he rose to the biggest challenge of his life and beat the odds of a 96 percent Department of Justice conviction rate to walk away with his freedom. It offers not only a previously untold story of a fascinating trial with well-known, colorful characters that captured the attention of the nation, but also a look at a universal relationship—brothers—as well as the theme of a David ordinary citizen facing the Goliath federal government. Those who enjoy legal thrillers, political dramas, family sagas, and all things Chicago will be especially interested in this memoir.
Freedom Rider Diary
Author: Carol Ruth Silver
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1617038873
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
One woman's harrowing, unforgettable account from the nadir of Jim Crow Mississippi
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1617038873
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
One woman's harrowing, unforgettable account from the nadir of Jim Crow Mississippi
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle
Author: Munyaradzi Nyakudya
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100078276X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253
Book Description
This book provides a timely reconceptualization of Zimbabwe’s anti- colonial liberation struggle, resisting simple binaries in favour of more nuanced, critical analysis. Most historiographies characterize Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle as being defined by simple bifurcations along racial, ethnic, class and ideological perspectives. This book argues that the nationalist struggle is far more complex than such simple configurations would suggest, and that many actors have been overlooked in the analysis. The book broadens our understanding by analysing the roles of a wide range of political figures, organizations, and members of the military, as well as the media and the often overlooked part that women played. Over the course of the book, the contributors also reflect on the ways in which revolutionary figures have been repainted as “sellouts”, in particular by the ZANU PF ruling party, and what that means for the country’s interpretation of their recent past. Highlighting in particular, the expertise of leading scholars from within Zimbabwe, across a range of disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers of African history, politics and postcolonial studies.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100078276X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253
Book Description
This book provides a timely reconceptualization of Zimbabwe’s anti- colonial liberation struggle, resisting simple binaries in favour of more nuanced, critical analysis. Most historiographies characterize Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle as being defined by simple bifurcations along racial, ethnic, class and ideological perspectives. This book argues that the nationalist struggle is far more complex than such simple configurations would suggest, and that many actors have been overlooked in the analysis. The book broadens our understanding by analysing the roles of a wide range of political figures, organizations, and members of the military, as well as the media and the often overlooked part that women played. Over the course of the book, the contributors also reflect on the ways in which revolutionary figures have been repainted as “sellouts”, in particular by the ZANU PF ruling party, and what that means for the country’s interpretation of their recent past. Highlighting in particular, the expertise of leading scholars from within Zimbabwe, across a range of disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers of African history, politics and postcolonial studies.
We Want to Do More Than Survive
Author: Bettina L. Love
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807069159
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
Winner of the 2020 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award Drawing on personal stories, research, and historical events, an esteemed educator offers a vision of educational justice inspired by the rebellious spirit and methods of abolitionists. Drawing on her life’s work of teaching and researching in urban schools, Bettina Love persuasively argues that educators must teach students about racial violence, oppression, and how to make sustainable change in their communities through radical civic initiatives and movements. She argues that the US educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Instead of trying to repair a flawed system, educational reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education, which Love calls the educational survival complex. To dismantle the educational survival complex and to achieve educational freedom—not merely reform—teachers, parents, and community leaders must approach education with the imagination, determination, boldness, and urgency of an abolitionist. Following in the tradition of activists like Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and Fannie Lou Hamer, We Want to Do More Than Survive introduces an alternative to traditional modes of educational reform and expands our ideas of civic engagement and intersectional justice.
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807069159
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
Winner of the 2020 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award Drawing on personal stories, research, and historical events, an esteemed educator offers a vision of educational justice inspired by the rebellious spirit and methods of abolitionists. Drawing on her life’s work of teaching and researching in urban schools, Bettina Love persuasively argues that educators must teach students about racial violence, oppression, and how to make sustainable change in their communities through radical civic initiatives and movements. She argues that the US educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Instead of trying to repair a flawed system, educational reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education, which Love calls the educational survival complex. To dismantle the educational survival complex and to achieve educational freedom—not merely reform—teachers, parents, and community leaders must approach education with the imagination, determination, boldness, and urgency of an abolitionist. Following in the tradition of activists like Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and Fannie Lou Hamer, We Want to Do More Than Survive introduces an alternative to traditional modes of educational reform and expands our ideas of civic engagement and intersectional justice.
Working for Peace and Justice
Author: Lawrence S. Wittner
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 1572338954
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 285
Book Description
A longtime agitator against war and social injustice, Lawrence Wittner has been tear-gassed, threatened by police with drawn guns, charged by soldiers with fixed bayonets, spied upon by the U.S. government, arrested, and purged from his job for political -reasons. To say that this teacher-historian-activist has led an interesting life is a considerable understatement. In this absorbing memoir, Wittner traces the dramatic course of a life and career that took him from a Brooklyn boyhood in the 1940s and ’50s to an education at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin to the front lines of peace activism, the fight for racial equality, and the struggles of the labor movement. He details his family background, which included the bloody anti-Semitic pogroms of late-nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, and chronicles his long teaching career, which comprised positions at a small black college in Virginia, an elite women’s liberal arts college north of New York City, and finally a permanent home at the Albany campus of the State University of New York. Throughout, he packs the narrative with colorful vignettes describing such activities as fighting racism in Louisiana and Mississippi during the early 1960s, collaborating with peace-oriented intellectuals in Gorbachev’s Soviet Union, and leading thousands of antinuclear demonstrators through the streets of Hiroshima. As the book also reveals, Wittner’s work as an activist was matched by scholarly achievements that made him one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history of the peace and nuclear disarmament movements—a research specialty that led to revealing encounters with such diverse figures as Norman Thomas, the Unabomber, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Caspar Weinberger, and David Horowitz. A tenured professor and renowned author who has nevertheless lived in tension with the broader currents of his society, Lawrence Wittner tells an engaging personal story that includes some of the most turbulent and significant events of recent history. Lawrence S. Wittner, emeritus professor of history at the University at Albany, SUNY, is the author of numerous scholarly works, including the award-winning three-volume Struggle Against the Bomb. Among other awards and honors, he has received major grants or fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Aspen Institute, the United States Institute of Peace, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 1572338954
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 285
Book Description
A longtime agitator against war and social injustice, Lawrence Wittner has been tear-gassed, threatened by police with drawn guns, charged by soldiers with fixed bayonets, spied upon by the U.S. government, arrested, and purged from his job for political -reasons. To say that this teacher-historian-activist has led an interesting life is a considerable understatement. In this absorbing memoir, Wittner traces the dramatic course of a life and career that took him from a Brooklyn boyhood in the 1940s and ’50s to an education at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin to the front lines of peace activism, the fight for racial equality, and the struggles of the labor movement. He details his family background, which included the bloody anti-Semitic pogroms of late-nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, and chronicles his long teaching career, which comprised positions at a small black college in Virginia, an elite women’s liberal arts college north of New York City, and finally a permanent home at the Albany campus of the State University of New York. Throughout, he packs the narrative with colorful vignettes describing such activities as fighting racism in Louisiana and Mississippi during the early 1960s, collaborating with peace-oriented intellectuals in Gorbachev’s Soviet Union, and leading thousands of antinuclear demonstrators through the streets of Hiroshima. As the book also reveals, Wittner’s work as an activist was matched by scholarly achievements that made him one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history of the peace and nuclear disarmament movements—a research specialty that led to revealing encounters with such diverse figures as Norman Thomas, the Unabomber, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Caspar Weinberger, and David Horowitz. A tenured professor and renowned author who has nevertheless lived in tension with the broader currents of his society, Lawrence Wittner tells an engaging personal story that includes some of the most turbulent and significant events of recent history. Lawrence S. Wittner, emeritus professor of history at the University at Albany, SUNY, is the author of numerous scholarly works, including the award-winning three-volume Struggle Against the Bomb. Among other awards and honors, he has received major grants or fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Aspen Institute, the United States Institute of Peace, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.