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The Quotable Rebel: Political Quotations for Dangerous Times

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I am a quotation junkie. I have over 600 quotation books of all sizes and ages. I'm also publisher of a progressive media site OpEdNews dot com and a quotations website, quotationscentral dot com. So when I say that this quotation book is a real treasure, it's with some authority. There are plenty of quotations books-- maybe hundreds, that cover the broad swathe of being human. There are a few for liberals and progressives. This is probably the best I've seen for people on the political left. Quotation collections have been said to be flowers, or jewels, strung together. The stringer of this collection, Teishan Latner, has taken a very creative, unique approach to organizing the collection. The topics include:

colonialism, Imperialism, Occupation, Empire,

Nationalism

Race, Racism,

Slavery

Indigenous People's strugge

Civilization and Progress

The Matrix-- Technology

Consumer Culture, Materialism, Advertising

Gaia-- the earth, environment, ecology

Animals, animal liberation

Resistance, strugge, rebellion

Ain't No Power like the Power of the People, on political movements, social change work and activism

Leaders

Direct action, Civil Disobedience

and 40 more topics including language, media, spirituality, history, women, class struggle, prison, police...

Consider this a political tool that you can use with your writing, your speaking, your stump speeches, your advocacy efforts, your sales pitches to funding sources...

Or use it for inspiration, to energize you when your mojo is slumping, to pump you up when you are about to embark on a mission or a day of canvassing.

Building an organization and talking to new members, how about Tennessee Williams quote, " The most dangerous word in any human tongue is the word for brother. It's inflammatory."

Or pretend this is 2006 and the Republicans run the congress, the whitehouse and the supreme court, and think of what Eldridge Cleaver said, "When fascism comes to the U.S., it won't be wearing swastikas-- it will be wearing red, white and blue and whistling Yankee Doodle Dandy."

I keep this book handy, on top of my computer.

Calling all conscious artists, song-writers, and organizers: you need a copy of The Quotable Rebel: Political Quotations for Dangerous Times !!! (Common Courage Press, 2005)

In the week or two that I've had this book, edited by the way-too-brilliant-for-his-29-years, Teishan Latner, I've already picked it up five or six times, looking for the right words to help me understand a frustration, for poem inspiration, for drawing inspiration, and for something piercing to tape to my bathroom mirror for a daily bolt of consciousness.

The book is nearly four hundred pages of wisdom, philosophy, humor and hope from politically left radicals and rebels. Latner has obviously done extensive reading and research; his sources are global, throughout history, and ideologically diverse (even in contradiction in some cases). In addition to the usual suspects (Noam Chomsky, Audrey Lorde, Malcolm X, Winona LaDuke, and June Jordan, to name a few), Latner quotes little-known activists and writers, as well as poets, singers, MCs, bumper stickers, proverbs, organization manifestos and court transcripts.

The book is divided into chapters by theme (like History; Political Commitment and Perseverance; Spirituality, Religion, Liberation Theology ; and Truth and Falsehood), allowing one to track down the right words on a given topic.

I was left wishing Latner had written a brief introductory section for each of these chapters, pulling out common themes, giving some context, and illuminating the "rebel" nature of these quotations (particularly in places where one quotation directly contradicts the next...as in the chapter on violence and nonviolence). Such introductions might make this book even more useful to folks without a lot of prior knowledge of the ideas reflected in it.

As is, however, this book is nonetheless brilliant and useful for all those jonesers for quotes, searchers for meaning, pursuers of a better world, and students of rage, love and possibility.

-Mattie Weiss

Coauthor, "How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office"