Common Sense for the Twenty-First Century [Paperback]

BLASE BONPANE (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Tom Paine was a pamphleteer who proclaimed the need for revolution in 1776. Common Sense for the Twenty-first Century is based on the need for a moral revolution in our own time. This was the call made by Dr. Martin Luther King. This is the call today made by Blase Bonpane, who rejects the ancient tools of clubs, spears, guns and bombs, while promoting the non-violent tools of dialogue together with militant grass roots action. Blase believes firmly that we can have a future of international participatory democracy directed toward distributive justice. Blase is a news commentator for KPFK in Los Angeles and host of the weekly radio program WORLD FOCUS which is directed toward ending the war system and building a global peace system. This new book also includes Blase s interviews with Chalmers Johnson, Jonathan Schell and the Reverend James Lawson. --Martin Sheen, Actor, Activist

Blase Bonpane is a true guerilla for peace, an exception to the rulers. From the occupation of Iraq to the war at home; from the coup in Haiti to the prisons of the US, Bonpane cuts through the lies to tell it like it is. For years, his commentaries have been broadcast over the airwaves of Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles. Today, in a world dominated by occupation, war and a crackdown on civil liberties and human rights, these commentaries become an essential counter-balance to the lies. Common Sense for the 21st Century is evidence that the voices of the silenced majority can and must be heard. --Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now!"

About the Author

Blase Bonpane, Ph.D., served as a Maryknoll priest and superior. He was assigned to and expelled from Central America. In addition to being a UCLA and California State University Northridge professor, contributor to Los Angeles Times and the New York Times and former commentator on Pacifica radio station KPFK 90.7fm (Los Angeles, California), Blase is the author of many publications. As a U.S. citizen, he is especially concerned about the role of his own country in fostering conditions of injustice. In 1989 he was named "the most underrated humanist of the past decade" by the Los Angeles Weekly. He is currently Director of the Office of the Americas, a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to peace and justice in the western hemisphere. The Blase Bonpane Collection 1950-2000 has been established by the Department of Special Collections of the U.C.L.A. Research Library. This is a compilation of his published and unpublished writings together with tapes of lectures and a complete file of the "Focus on the Americas" programs which were uplinked to the National Public Radio satellite.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Red Hen Press (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888996560
• ISBN-13: 978-1888996562
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,196,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Jewel, October 18, 2004

By 

Blase A. Bonpane "Author" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Common Sense for the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)

Your new book is an absolute jewel. The commentaries on everything from Haiti to Falluja are outstanding, and I found the interviews valuable. Also the book has been beautifully produced. I hope it has a big impact.

It would be wonderful if our country would today think of your Common Sense as a proper sequel to Tom Paine's original.

Congratulations!

Chalmers Johnson, Author of The Sorrows of Empire, Metropolitan Books, New York, 2003