Customer Reviews

The Radical Reader: A Documentary History of the American Radical Tradition

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The ordinary American's personal experience of history is often organized around a pantheon of readings and tomes that view our democratic experience as a pristine and elevated philosophical exercise by icons of verity and probity. Recent treatments such as Howard Zinn's "A People's History of The United States" and the wonderful "Founding Brothers" by Joseph J. Ellis have helped us to recognize the fact that while brilliant they were, the founders of this country were both mortal and fallible, and were hardly disinterested and objective idealists. This superb work by Timothy McCarthy and John McMillan (both history professors at Harvard) offers us over 150 short but spellbinding works by a wide variety of authors that help to widen the reader's understanding of the radical American experience, and to demystify the highly emotional and politically explosive issues and concerns that have faced us in terms of home-grown radical perspectives regarding social and political issues ranging from the original Articles of Confederation to those surrounding slavery, from corporate sponsored police brutality against union organizing to the war in Vietnam, from strident environmentalism to the current protests against the war in Iraq. All of it is here, and wonderfully so.

In essence, the authors have culled a treasure-trove of radical statements and observations that breathe life into our rather checkered history. Far from the sanitized and revisionist efforts one finds in most public school treatments of American history, herein one discovers a masterfully articulated series of articles written in colorful prose by those intimately involved in the radical protest, and most usually written from the radical perspective. The reader fins himself on an incredible journey into the various issues and concerns that have animated our long and often fractious progress toward a more perfect civil union. The book is organized into eleven principal chapters, each of which offers an absorbing selection of articles pertaining to cross-cutting issues such as the American revolution; the utopian visions relating to the very idea of a constitutional republic itself; abolitionism; suffrage and feminism; labor, anarchism, and socialism; civil rights; the new left and the counterculture; radical environmentalism; gay rights; and an epilogue with articles directed to some recent transcending issues and the radical writings relating to them.

The list of notable authors included ranges from Samuel Adams to Ralph Nader, from Thoreau to Frederick Douglas, from Susan B. Anthony to Huey Long, and from Barry Commoner to Malcolm X. The list of worthwhile notables just goes on and on. Without a doubt, this is the most readable, provocative, and useful collection of American critical writings by radical thinkers I have personally had the joy and benefit of reading. What I truly love about it is that it is the perfect way to read short articles and thought-pieces without spending hours plowing through individual chapters. The length of the individual articles ranges from two to seven pages, so the book is a great way to spend some break time or lunch time reading material along and to be able to finish the particular piece in a single short sitting. It is also provides an extremely eclectic and electrifying range of views and opinions for one to have the chance to experience, and adds immeasurably to the reading experience as a companion teaching device one could use admirably as an adjunct to a text such as Zinn's for use with the average undergraduate student. This is a book I would heartily recommend for anyone interested in a fascinating exploration of radical American thought and critiques of the mainstream culutre, and one that is certainly a terrific way to give a meaningful educational gift to aloved one this holiday season! Enjoy!

This book is real treasure of various ideas and the people behind them. A great resource for scholars or teachers. The curious person who enjoys US history will find something in here that they will enjoy.

Excellent collection of activism throughout history of the US. Very interesting and thourough

This was required reading for a class I was taking in College. Most books that I have to buy for classes I never touch again after the end of the semester, except this book. Not only are the documents in the book interesting, but the chronological and categorical layout is brilliant.

Great range of material set up in a book one can read for academic purposes or use as a casual "bathroom" read.