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This book is the authoritative introduction to the history ofblack civil rights in the USA. It provides a clear and useful guide tothe political, social and cultural history of black Americans andtheir pursuit of equal rights and recognition from 1865 through to thepresent day. From the civil war of the 1860s to the race riots of the1990s, Black Civil Rightsdetails the history of the moderncivil rights movement in American history.

This book introducesthe reader to:

* leading civil rights activists
* black political movements within the USA
* crucial legal and political developments
* portrayal of black Americans in the media. ... Read more

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The Spirit and the Shotgun explores the role of armed self-defense in tandem with nonviolent protests in the African American freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. Confronted with violent attacks by the Ku Klux Klan and other racist terrorists, southern blacks adopted Martin Luther King's philosophy of nonviolent resistance as a tactic, Wendt argues, but at the same time armed themselves out of necessity and pride. Sophisticated self-defense units patrolled black neighborhoods, guarded the homes of movement leaders, rescued activists from harm, and occasionally traded shots with their white attackers. These patrols enhanced and sustained local movements in the face of white aggression. They also provoked vigorous debate within traditionally nonviolent civil rights organizations such as SNCC, CORE, and the NAACP.This study reevaluates black militants such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party and also appraises largely unknown protective agencies in Tuscaloosa, Cleveland, and other locales. Not confined to one state, one organization, or the best-known activists, this is the first balanced history of armed self-defense that begins with the southern civil rights movement and ends with the Black Power era. Drawing on extensive research from a wide variety of sources to build his case, Wendt argues that during the Black Power years, armed resistance became largely symbolic and ultimately counterproductive to the black struggle--no longer coexisting with peaceful protest in "the spirit and the shotgun" philosophy that had served the southern movement so effectively. This is an essential volume for historians and students of the era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

best account of armed defense
I picked up this book on a whim at a history conference. Having read some of the other books on armed self-defense and civil rights - Tyson's Radio Free Dixie, Strain's Pure Fire, Hill's Deacons for Defense - I was somewhat surprised to find another new book on this subject. My suspicions that this study might simply repeat what others have said quickly gave way to shock that there was so much about self-defense that we still don't know.

Wendt shows how armed resistance went hand in hand with nonviolence throughout much of the movement. His account is nicely balanced. Tyson, while he's written a great book, gives far too much importance to Robert Williams, setting him up as the typical model of a black self-defense activist in the 1950s and 1960s when he is atypical. Strain almost entirely dismisses nonviolence as a fiction, something that most scholars and laypeople would disagree with. Wendt doesn't make these mistakes. He shows the long history of self-defense. He also demonstrates the myriad ways in which armed defense worked in tandem with nonviolent protests. In numerous instances across the South, black defenders not only protected young protestors, they permitted those protests to take place. Additionally, the fear that protests and armed black men generated among numerous local whites actually motivated local businesses and city governments to integrate. These are fascinating stories that show the multifacted nature of the black freedom struggle.

Wendt also explores the Black Power era, focusing on how armed defense and black masculinity worked together. This is an important line of gender analysis that only a few scholars have tackled (focusing on men is also interesting given that often "gender history" is a standin for "women's history"). Wendt ultimately concludes, rightly I would argue, that guns in the Black Power movement worked against the struggle because the tandem element of nonviolence was missing. While Black Power activists certainly did not encouage violence...they encouraged self-defense...they distanced themselves from nonviolence. The focus on solely "the shotgun" minus "the spirit" worked to hurt the Black Power movement and hindered its success.

This is a very good book, one I found after buying it that has been positively evaluated in almost every major history journal. Contrary to what the other reviewer has stated (and he's written a fine review), Wendt focuses on almost every southern state in the Deep South, including a full chapter on Mississippi. Perhaps Mississippi differs from other states in that the armed confrontations between blacks and whites took place at night and have received less attention than Louisiana and the Deacons. This book shows how exhaustive research, great stories, and a good thesis can produce a fantastic piece of scholarship.

Self-defense and tactical nonviolence
This study reviews in depth the introduction of armed self-defense in the rural areas of Louisiana and the Black Belt South and the motivations of local blacks to defend themselves against white Southern violence against the black community.It concentrates mainly on the Louisiana communities and pays little attention to other areas in the Deep South, especially Mississippi, which Lance Hill's Deacons for Defense does.
The study pays particular attention to black manhood and the interaction between nonviolence in the civil rights movement and armed self-defense efforts of members of the black communities. It further examines the Black Power movement.
More importantly it examines black self-defense efforts in locations such as those in Jonesboro and Bogalusa, Louisiana, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and St. Augustine, Florida, which were successful in protecting local black efforts at integration.However, these were mainly nighttime efforts to protect the communities rather than daylight confrontations with the Ku Klux Klan.
The historical importance of this study is in its examining the interaction of black organizations of armed self-defense groups and their relationship to the nonviolent local civil rights efforts. ... Read more

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Disability is rarely considered a social issue. Scholars tend to discuss it in the abstract; medical personnel view it as a health issue; and legal concerns for the disabled focus on how to advocate or protect organizations against demands for accommodation. As a result, disabled individuals are seen as bits and pieces of everyone's constituency but their own. The writers of this work, both having long personal experiences with disabilities, offer a holistic understanding of the lives of disabled individuals from representations in the media to issues of civil rights.

Written to educate and inform readers about the social roles of disability, this accessible and informative work addresses: social classifications of disability; social reactions to disability; legal rights and classifications of persons with disabilities; issues of accessibility to information and communication technologies; representations of disability in a range of media, including literature, painting, film, televsion and advertising; and major issues shaping the comtemporary social roles of persons with disabilities. By examining the social roles of disability in the past and present from a range of perspectives and disciplines, this book reveals a portrait of the social place, limitations, and rights of persons with disabilities.

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Customer Reviews (3)

A Fantastic Read
The authors of this text did an excellent job in comparing and contrasting Dr. King and Malcolm X. The text used many letters from both leaders, and showed how their ideals evolved throughout their lives.

Malcolm and Martin
This book presents the differences between arguably the two most famous civil rights activists of the fifties and sixties, as well as showing the convergence between their ideas and ideals toward the end of thier respective lives. It is readable, succinct and thorough. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who will be teaching this period in history to middle or high school students.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents (The Be
This book is absoltely terrific. It gave me everything I needed to understand the differences and similarities between these two phenomenal leaders. ... Read more

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"You must be from the North," was a common, derogatory reaction to the activities of white women throughout the South, well-meaning wives and mothers who joined together to improve schools or local sanitation but found their efforts decried as more troublesome civil rights agitation. You Must Be from the North: Southern White Women in the Memphis Civil Rights Movement focuses on a generation of white women in Memphis, Tennessee, born between the two World Wars and typically omitted from the history of the civil rights movement. The women for the most part did not jeopardize their lives by participating alongside black activists in sit-ins and freedom rides. Instead, they began their journey into civil rights activism as a result of their commitment to traditional female roles through such organizations as the Junior League. What originated as a way to do charitable work, however, evolved into more substantive political action.

While involvement with groups devoted to feeding schoolchildren and expanding Bible study sessions seemed benign, these white women's growing awareness of racial disparities in Memphis and elsewhere caused them to question the South's hierarchies in ways many of their peers did not. Ultimately, they found themselves challenging segregation more directly, found themselves ostracized as a result, and discovered they were often distrusted by a justifiably suspicious black community. Their newly discovered commitment to civil rights contributed to the success of the city's sanitation workers' strike of 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death during the strike resonated so deeply that for many of these women it became a defining moment. In the long term, these women proved to be a persistent and progressive influence upon the attitudes of the white population of Memphis, and particularly on the cityÂ's elite. ... Read more

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Sisters in the Struggle tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women to the most important social reform movements in the United States in the twentieth century. Only recently have historians and other researchers begun to recognize black women's central role in the battle for racial and gender equality.

These essays describe the early ideological development of Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commitee in 1960. Fannie Lou Hamer's use of her personal anguish to mold her public persona; and Septima Clark's creation of a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor black southerners to read and write to help them register to vote. We learn of black women's activism in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Free Joan Little Movement in the 1970s. It also includes personal testimonies from women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to racism and sexism- Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter Gault, and Dorohy Height.

Sisters in the Struggle presents a detailed analysis of the multifaceted roles played by women in civil rights and Black Power organizations, as well as the major political parties at the local, state, and national levels, while documenting the formation of a distinct black feminist consciousness. It represents the coming of age of African American women's history and presents new studies that point the way to future research and analysis.

Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne-Hunter Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine M. Smith, and Linda Faye Williams. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

This is an essential book on the Civil Rights Movement
Sisters in the Struggle focuses on the often forgotten women without whom the Civil Rights Movement would not have been possible.

NEVER RECEIVED THE BOOK
I have not received the book, "Sisters in the Struggle"Please credit my account.

Highly recommended
Through the words of scholars and female Civil Rights-Black Power activists, this book provides an excellent overview of the movement.It is a necessary read for anyone who does not understand that black women were essential to the Civil Rights-Black Power movement or who does not understand why black women created their own organizations (i.e., NACW, NCNW, Combahee River Collective, etc.) to insure that their issues were addressed.Each of the essays also provide a wonderful source of general background information to help you understand the historical context without overloading you with info.

A Historical Timepiece
SISTERS IN THE STRUGGLE chronicles the contributions of African American women at the height of the social reform movement in the twentieth century.It provided a different perspective than what is customarily shed on this era.

The book depicts the selflessness of some important historical figures such as well-known Rosa Parks whose stubborn refusal to give up her bus seat sparked an inferno in the Civil Rights Movement.Mary MacLeod Bethune's achievement of founding Bethune-Cookman College in 1904 to offer higher education opportunities to African American women is chronicled.The life and times of Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who struggled to tear down the racial dividers at the University of Georgia and won the right to enroll in 1961, as well as many other historical accounts.

This book was a book club selection.Due to the text-book like offerings, we choose a subsection of the book on which to focus.All in all, the book contributed to a lively discussion as to how women of today are still `in the struggle.'Although dry at times, the book does provide an insightful peek into our history.

Reviewed by Nedine
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers ... Read more

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This text examines the numbers, the advocacy arguments and the practical realities of the "racial profiling" controversy. By applying law, logic, electoral common sense and police community relations, the author shows how the successful police manager will deal with the issues without enduring personal or career disaster for the attempt. The first part of the text explains the "racial profiling" controversy in the context of traffic stops. The political and policy issues are covered along with the constitutional standards. Then, the second part addresses the types of actions sought by those who assert a need for remedies against police investigatory stops. The third aspect of this text is an analysis of the mechanism by which challengers force elected officials into the defensive settlements seen in 1998-2001. Next, the roles of elected officials, police managers and police unions in dealing with this controversy is discussed. Finally, preventive steps are suggested that can practically be implemented to avoid this controversy from affecting successful police administration. By taking apart the complex topic and showing its meaning, significance and consequential events, it is hoped that this book will help facilitate solutions where currently there is confusion and alarm. ... Read more

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Challenging the Civil Rights Establishment is a compelling introduction to the ideas of black social critics who oppose the most prominent voices of black America's leadership. In their analysis, Conti and Stetson focus on four men: Thomas Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Shelby Steele, author of The Content of Our Character; Robert Woodson, founder of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise; and Glenn Loury, a conservative political economist at Boston University. In speeches, in their writings, and in interviews with Conti and Stetson, these thinkers discuss how the construction of public policy has devolved into a kind of "ethnic cheerleading" that exalts race and ethnicity above personal character and behaviors in determinations of what is fair. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Who says there are no more heroes and heroines!
All the post-riot stories about South Central have been filtered through a screen of what might be termed, "black political correctness."Facts, ideas, and research don't coincide with the so-called "official story" of the "causes" of the riots.What ever happened to the real story?Were commentators and journalists afraid to be tagged, "racially insensitive?"Did they collaborate in this "official story" with the civil rights establishment?Did they want to avoid the fall out from the explosive truth or capitalize on the political deception? What truth?The truth about the vicious character of the blacks, hispanics, and whites that looted and burned South Central Los Angeles.Who am I to say these things?I lived there.I was there when the smoke was so thick and heavy, it hung only a few feet above the ground. The heroes and heroines of the black conservative movement, however, were not deceived.Even before the Fairmont Conference when black conservatism became a forceful movment, these lions and lionesses had shaken off the deceiving and terrifying grip of the civil rights establishment.Long before the black community began to find courage to join together and move against their false prophets, the new black vanguard had individually crossed over the Jordan river. Who are these heroes and heroines?Phyllis Berry-Myers, Joseph Broadus, Ezola Foster, Alan Keyes, Glenn Loury, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Lee Walker, Walter Williams, Robert Woodson, Anne Wortham, and Elizabeth Wright among others.These are many of the same people who havenow come together to voice their insight and vision in their own words within the drama of "Black and Right: The Bold New Voice of Black Conservatives in America" (Praeger Trade, 1997)! In "Challenging the Civil Rights Establishment: Profiles of a New Black Vanguard" (Praeger Trade, 1993) Joseph G. Conti and Brad Stetson (assisted by Stan Faryna) thoughtfully describe the thought, experience, and contribution of many of these lions and lionesses.Wrote Conti and Stetson of the black conservative message: "It is a message of self-reliance, in the context of a dignified community, trusting its own ability to exercise freedom with responsbility and thereby provide for itself the moral and social resources that breed and sustain independence." ... Read more

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Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) was a prominent black attorney in Philadelphia and a distinguished member of the National Bar Association, the oldest and largest association of African American lawyers and judges. A contemporary of such nationally known black attorneys as Charles Hamilton Houston, William Hastie, and Thurgood Marshall, Alexander litigated civil rights cases and became well known in Philadelphia. Yet his legacy to the civil rights struggle has received little national recognition.

As a New Negro lawyer during the 1930s, Alexander worked with left-wing organizations to desegregate an all-white elementary school in Berwin, Pennsylvania. After World War II, he became an anti-communist liberal and formed coalitions with like-minded whites. In the sixties, Alexander criticized Black Power rhetoric, but shared some philosophies with Black Power such as black political empowerment and studying black history. By the late sixties, he focused on economic justice by advocating a Marshall Plan for poor Americans and supporting affirmative action.

Alexander was a major contributor to the northern civil rights struggle and was committed to improving the status of black lawyers. He was representative of a generation who created opportunities for African Americans but was later often ignored or castigated by younger leaders who did not support the tactics of the old guard's pioneers.

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Customer Reviews (15)

Levittown, NY in the 1950s
Very interesting story that expresses what the climate of that era was like. The book also explains how the Levitts began and built their Levittown empire. The civil rights story in 1950s Levittown, NY is a very captivating story that holds the reader's attention from the very start.

Good vendor
Book was in excellent condition as promised and shipment was very fast. Very good vendor.

Moving account of a "civil rights saga" and one that can help explain the phenomenon of "white flight"
If "civil rights saga" were a genre of contemporary literature, then this book successfully fits the bill. Kushner has written a true story that will inspire you, make you angry and shake your head in shock and shame. His account of the events surrounding the arrival of the first African-American family in the "whites only" suburb of Levittown in 1957 lays bare not only the deadly and ugly racism that characterized the era, even in the more "progressive" northern states. It also shows how ordinary men, women and even children stood up for what was right and won, despite crosses burned in their backyards, being bullied and harassed night and day, and the windows of their picture perfect suburban homes shattered.

Apart from the compelling narrative, the book provides a good understanding of the psychology behind the phenomenon of "white flight" (whites moving out when African-Americans move in) that is still very much in place in the United States today. It explains how racism in housing was entrenched first by cultural attitudes and then, unbelievably, by law. Legal measures were taken to shut African-Americans out of neighborhoods even when they had all the qualifications necessary to buy homes in good neighborhoods, something almost every American in the booming post-World War II economy aspired to with the expansion of the suburbs between the 1940s and '60s. The argument that the arrival of African-Americans heralded "declining property values" is not just something the racists of Levittown screamed in loud, angry and violent protests. It is an attitude you can easily find in many racially homogeneous upper-class neighborhoods in the United States today. While housing discrimination is now officially illegal in the U.S., "white flight" continues.

Kushner's book is the kind that will keep you up at night reading till you're done. At the end, you'll not only be glad the good guys won, but you'll also be saddened by the fact that the attitudes the bad guys in the story represented are still in place today, over half a century later.

A clash of values in a slice of America
I was surprised to find an entire page of books on Amazon about Levittown. For the most part, the titles suggest a broad nostalgia for a time and place in America that many people gladly called home: Levittown: The way we were and Our House: The Stories of Levittown, for example.

But for a wide swath of Americans, Levittown was not home, even though they wanted it to be. David Kushner traces the story of three families whose lives intersected in Levittown: the Levitt family, whose utopian ideals envisioned a perfect--and perfectly white--community; the Wechslers, left-leaning activists looking for a cause; and the Meyers family, African-Americans who wanted a slice of the American dream, otherwise known as a house in Levittown.

After reading this book, I won't ever look at the 1950s with the sense of nostalgia often reserved for that time in American history. Kushner's story is one so filled with hate, it's hard to imagine it happening in the Northeast. I think we tend to believe racial crimes happened only in the South. But the community of Levittown was hateful... they made death threats, threw rocks at the house, burned crosses, paraded their Confederate-flag adorned cars up and down the street, amassed mobs in front of the Myers's house and worse. A group of people even rented a house behind the Myers's, where they harassed them with sound, lights and more. One man walked a dog back and forth at the property line, calling out its particularly ugly name, a racial slur.

The book does get bogged down in details and the titles of the various committees people formed to push their agendas, but the story is compelling enough to get you through. I only wish -- as the author undoubtedly does -- that the Myers' children, who are still living, would tell their own story about this traumatic time. The author says they claim not to recall the events, even though at the time at least two of them would have been of an age to remember. That's a shame. In this case, nostalgia needs to be tempered with the truth.

From a Jersey Girl...
Passé words like riveting, remarkable and even shocking come to mind when you think about describing this book.But Levittown is far too good to use such canned vocabulary.I was born in Willingboro, New Jersey in 1970 - while our nation and that area of the U.S. were still on the cusp of dealing with racial divides.My Mother moved into Levittown during the Summer of 1960, her family trying to escape to suburbia from the city of Philadelphia and what her family perceived as an area heightening in crime and diminishing in a quality place to raise children.This story struck me on levels I am both ashamed and proud to speak of.

Reading the language and racial slurs in this book were difficult.It was difficult because you can't imagine that just a mere 50 - 60 years ago people (old and young) felt so strongly about other human beings all because of the color of their skin.Page after page is punctuated with the `N'-word and it just hangs there in the air and pierces your moral fiber.My shock is juxtaposed by having grown up with family members who then, and to this day, still say that word - I like to think it's merely a generational thing because I know the people saying this word are kind and wonderful.But they grew up in a time of ignorance and closed-mindedness and some people just don't shirk those feelings.

As shocking as the story of Levittown is, I couldn't help but ponder a message that defines the generations and races of even today: (nearly) everyone has a dream they hope to attain.Bill Levitt, in the eyes of the (white) nation and Levittown residents was living the American dream: huge house, gorgeous wives, big boat and he was (viewed as) generous.Bill Myers and his family sought the American dream as they saw it: to own property and live freely.Levitt reflected the times of that period in America.Yet, consider how individual groups think of their American dream today - think of it in terms of black and white - it almost makes you wonder how far we have not come.That's the one thing I really loved about this book: it made me think.
... Read more

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As a teenager, long before Enriqueta Vasquez became a writer and activist, she wrote her first letter to complain against the injustice she saw around her while growing up in the Southwest. Why was she, a Mexican American, not allowed to eat in local restaurants, while her brothers were fighting to preserve their country’s principles of freedom and democracy? Why were Mexican Americans good enough to fight and die for their country but not good enough to be treated as equals at home? And so began Enriqueta Vasquez’s life-long fight for justice.

Highlighting the involvement of women in the Chicano Movement, this anthology combines for the first time in one volume the columns written by Enriqueta Vasquez from 1968-1972 for the path-breaking Chicano newspaper, El Grito del Norte.

Enriqueta Vasquez’s columns written during the peak of the civil rights movement provided a platform for her fierce but hopeful voice of protest. In her column, entitled ¡Despierten Hermanos! [Awaken, Brothers and Sisters!], she used both anger and humor in her efforts to stir her fellow Chicanos to action. Drawing upon her own experiences as a Chicana, she wrote about such issues as racism, sexism, imperialism, and poverty, issues that remain pressing today.

With introductory and concluding essays by editors Lorena Oropeza and Dionne Espinoza, this collection of 44 of Vasquez’s original articles arranged thematically into six chapters seeks to inform and inspire a new generation. Each is annotated to clarify references to people and events, and the editors have included English-language translations of any essays that appeared originally in Spanish. The text is complemented by six drawings by activist and artist Rini Templeton that originally appeared in El Grito del Norte. The volume includes a foreword by John Nichols and a preface by Enriqueta Vasquez. ... Read more

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Guy Saperstein grew up in the 1960s and was deeply involved in civil rights work from an early age. He decided after graduating from law school to devote his efforts entirely to social causes. As Civil Warrior shows, he has made the bad guys pay — spectacularly. Saperstein’s David and Goliath story recalls that of Erin Brockovich, and he’s had his share of high-profile cases, including a win against State Farm Insurance for $239 million and the infamous Denny’s lawsuit. Civil Warrior tells these and other stories in a compelling style with accompanying photographs that manage to make protracted litigation — the State Farm case dragged on for 12 years — as readable as a thriller. "Guy T. Saperstein is revolutionizing civil-rights law." — The Wall Street Journal ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Beyond Fiction
Saperstein says lawyers work hard. I just finished this book and I am exhausted! It is amazing, and a credit to Saperstein, what one person can do when trained, unleashed and licensed to practice law. What we see is a young, intelligent, and questioning person, confronted with injustice, accept as seemingly his fate, personal responsibility to overcome it. And-- I recall an article about him some years ago in The California Lawyer, entitled "Rich Guy" Saperstein-- he is unapologetic that his work in the public interest has brought him wealth.

It gave me chills to read again of those days of the 60s and law students and lawyers like Guy. Some might suggest one of my characters in my novel. "The Lawyers: Class of '69" was based upon Guy Saperstein. No. I could not even begin to create in fiction the very real life Guy Saperstein has led, as a member of that class of 1969 at Boalt Hall, and one of the most influential lawyers in America. An excellent read.

Entertaining and Inspirational
Although Guy Saperstein probably wrote A CIVIL WARRIOR for a broad based audience, it is very worthwhile reading for attorneys, especially civil litigators.The book begins with a description of Guy Saperstein's childhood days in Southern California, continues with stories of his law school days and the beginnings of his public interest law career. Eventually, we learn of the historic employment discrimination cases he handled.The book is inspirational.Obviously, we are richer for the results Saperstein and and his colleagues obtained through the massive class action employment discrimination cases he launched.However, A CIVIL WARRIOR also gives encouragement and inspiration to the practicing attorney to go "the extra mile" for clients. Many practioners, I believe, would likely have settled much earlier in the various litigations in which Saperstein was involved.Saperstein's description of how his cases were screened, prepared and either tried or settled are completely engrossing.

essential reading
It's a rare treat to read a book that challenges you to become a leader in your chosen craft while imparting specific useful information on its subject matter. If you enjoyed reading the Buffalo Creek Disaster, you'll love this book.Saperstein weaves a personal story within a narrative that you've already heard about in the news. This is the story that you haven't heard.Next time you hear people speak against class action attorneys, pull out your copy of this book and remember the great good that this one attorney has wrought through his craft.

A Pretty Good Read
It's an interesting window into the life of a slacker-turned-lawyer who got drafted into class action work at a time when it was a no-money business for legal aid organizations. Love or hate plaintiffs' lawyers, it's interesting to see how he latched onto State Farm and didn't let go until they made huge changes and paid him and the people he represented a whole lot of money.
The dates and case cites are spotty in here, so don't go into it looking to do historical or legal research. For that reason, it's easy to lose track of the cases' place in time, and alarming when you realize he's writing about companies were getting away with blatant discrimination in the '80s and even into the '90s.
For a lawyer, his writing's pretty clear and concise. And the stories about him growing up and skating through school and law school in the 1960s are kind of charming.
One really good point about it is that he waited a decade to write up his story, so there's a maturity and perspective in there that would've been missing had he decided to cash in by writing a book during his rock-star days.
It's not the most exciting or revealing memoir you'll ever read, but it is a nice little story of how one of this country's most famous trial lawyers made his way in the profession.

A Must Read
A must read for anyone facing a fork in the road of life...to travel the safe, well paved road society has laid for us or to venture out onto a path all you own?Guy Saperstein's "The Civil Warrior" tells the story of one attorney who blazed his own trail in social causes and made the journey for women and minorites a little easier. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Captures the spirit
I was one of those volunteers who went to Mississippi during the momentous summer of 1964. I can enthusiastically report that the new edition of "Letters from Mississippi," now including "Freedom School Poetry," is one of the best ways for young people today to get a sense of that event. It captures the hopes, goals, fears, and energy of the time.To those moved by this book who want a deeper appreciation of the strength, commitment and organization of the local black community in Mississippi that had invited us to join their struggle, I would strongly recommend also reading Charles M. Payne's"I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle" and Anne Moody's "Coming of Age in Mississippi." "Letters" gives a strong sense of the volunteers' experiences, the other two books add local perspectives.Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 impacted not only on the history of this country but also on all those -- volunteers and local activists -- who participated in it.

Amazing walk through history
Not being born during the time of the civil rights movement all that I know is what I have learned from television, classrooms, books, and listening to others.This book was a wonderful eye opener.It made me wonder if I could do the same things the white volunteers did in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer.What a brave and open, heartfelt story. ... Read more

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In this account, the author traces the progress of the Civil Rights Movement, from its beginnings - the Supreme Court's 1954 "Brown" decision, the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins - through the growth of consciousness and confidence, all the way to Selma and beyond. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (42)

Courtesy of US History from 1877
"Arc of Justice:A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age" depicts the life of one Ossian Sweet from his childhood in the Jim Crow South to his endeavors in the city of Detroit where racial tensions were at a peak in the 1920s.The story begins by keeping you on the edge of your seat as Sweet moved into his new home with his wife and child, accompanied by a band of friends whom open fire onto an angry mob.Excitement and suspense quell as the story continues and ultimately ends in the upmost tragedy when Sweet unexpectedly takes his life during the 1960s Civil Rights movement.Author Kevin Boyle accurately portrays the hardship of African Americans during the Jazz Age, though the manner in which he does so does not keep the attention of the reader throughout the duration of the novel.Court proceedings and other events are drawn out much longer than necessary with more background information than anything else.The facts and main points of the book are valid which makes "Arc of Justice..." a valuable source for an inside look at an era marked by the contrasting factors of hope and opportunity versus fear and violence.

A must read!
Not often you read a non-fiction that is so wonderfully researched and that reads like an interesting and intriguing novel - with repercussions that are still germane today - I loved it and recommend it to everyone!

well-researched bit of history
I finished this book on MLK Day. How appropriate. This book is written by a historian and gives great details about 11 blacks charged with killing a white manwhile defending their home from an angry white mob. The whites were enraged because the blacks moved into "their" neighborhood. I thought it was interesting, and learned a great deal about Jim Crow in the North even in the 1920's. Justice wins out, though it took a while.

Arc of Justice
Arc of Justice a great book if you are looking for the truth. Kevin Boyle holds no puches, insightful, honest and brutal. Realistic and a page turner.

Justice is Done
Writing with a novelist's flair, the author expertly assembled a story about Dr. Ossian Sweet who just wants to live in a modest bungalow home in 1925 in an area of Detroit where blacks do not live.Dr. Sweet overcame great odds (he was urged to leave home at 13-years-old because his parents had to continue to feed a growing brood of children) to become a physician.The story is full in historical nuggets about which I loved learning.It's full of drama and suspense, and you will not want to put down the book.

It's an excellent read that you will likely enjoy. ... Read more

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At the University of Pennsylvania, a student is reprimanded for calling a group of African-American students water buffalo. Several prominent American law schools now request that professors abstain from discussing the legal aspects of rape for fear of offending students. As debates over multiculturalism and political correctness crisscross the land, no single issue has been more of a flash point in the ongoing culture wars than hate speech codes, which seek to restrict bigoted or offensive speech and punish those who engage in it. In this provocative anthology, a range of prominent voices argue that hate speech restrictions are not only dangerous, but counterproductive. The lessons of history indicate that speech regulation designed to protect minorities is destined to be used against them. Acknowledging the legitimacy of the concerns that prompt speechcodes and combining support for civil liberties with an acute concern for civil tights issues, Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex demonstrates that it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw the line between unprotected insults and protected ideas. Decrying such speech regulation as overly concerned with the symbols of racism rather than its realities, Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex offers a balanced and well-reasoned perspective on one of the most controversial issues of our time.

Customer Reviews (1)

A Challenging work
Instinctively, most decent people don't like to see anyone singled out and denigrated unfairly. To most, it seems particularly distasteful if the denigration is on the basis of race, gender or (to many, at least) sexual orientation. Yet the authors of this book, all of whom are active in campaigns for equality as well as for civil liberties, see codes on US campuses which prohibit and punish such speech as a threat.... Why?

Their book examines the arguments for and against such codes and the issues that underlie them. Objections to these codes include that :

They are a threat to basic free speech principles. In particular the idea that speech should be protected regardless of its content or viewpoint -- a principle intended to prevent the law from favouring one interest over another.
 
They have a chilling effect on wider discourse. Nadine Strossen points out that : Regardless of how carefully these rules are drafted, they inevitably are vague and unavoidably invest officials with substantial discretion in the enforcement process; thus, such regulations exert a chilling effect on speech beyond their literal bands. (1)
 
They put us on a "slippery slope". Ideas not originally intended to be the subject of the codes will be penalised. Throughout the book examples are given of this happening. Strossen points out that in Britain the "No Platform for racists and fascists" was extended to cover Zionism (whereby its victims included the Israeli ambassador to the UK). (2) In Canada the victims of restrictions of free expression have included the black feminist scholar Bell Hooks, and a gay & lesbian bookshop in Toronto. (3)

Much the same issue was raised from the floor of an LM sponsored conference in London at which one of the authors (Nadine Strossen) spoke; it was pointed out that the UK Public Order Act of 1936, which was ostensibly introduced to control the followers of British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley, had been invoked time and time again to ban demonstrations by leftists and trade unionists. Similarly, police tactics used against the National Front in the 1980s to prevent their coaches from reaching demonstrations were later employed against striking miners.

The book's authors note that the codes give power to institutions and government. Can we trust them with these new powers? As David Coles, a law professor at Georgetown University, wrote :

...in a democratic society the only speech government is likely to succeed in regulating will be that of the politically marginalised. If an idea is sufficiently popular, a representative government will lack the political wherewithal to supress it, irrespective of the First Amendment. But if an idea is unpopular, the only thing that may protect it from the majority is a strong constitutional norm of content neutrality. (4)

Donald E. Lively questions how new powers will be exercised :

Reliance upon a community to enact and enforce protective regulation when the dominant culture itself has evidenced insensitivity toward the harm for which sanction is sought does not seem well placed. A mentality that trivialises incidents such as those Lawrence relates is likely to house the attitudes that historically have inspired the turning of racially significant legislation against minorities. (5)

But perhaps Ira Glasser puts it best in her introduction to the book :

First, the attempt by minorities of any kind -- racial, political, religious, sexual -- to pass legal restrictions on speech creates a self-constructed trap. It is a trap because politically once you have such restrictions in place the most important questions to ask are: Who is going to enforce them? Who is going to interpret what they mean? Who is going to decide whom to target?
The answer is : those in power. (6)

Another condemnation is that the codes are an exercise in self-indulgency, a trivialisation of real racial imperatives by the pursuit of relatively marginal and debatable concerns....
Donald E. Lively states :

As a method for progress, however, protocolism (1) seriously misreads history and disregards evolving social and economic conditions, (2) is an exercise in manipulating and avoiding racial reality; and (3) represents a serious misallocation of scarce reformist resources. (7)

Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex doesn't just put the arguments against speech codes -- it also deconstructs the arguments put in their favour. The three most interesting arguments in favour of such codes are, in my view, (1) that racist expression is not about truth or an attempt to persuade and so is not worthy of protection; (2) that racist declarations are in fact group libels; and (3) that racist expression is akin to an assault.

All three arguments are dismissed by the authors. In the first case, Justice Douglas is approvingly quoted :

(A) function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. This is why freedom of speech, though not absolute is nevertheless protected against censorship or punishment, unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance or unrest. There is no room under our Constitution for a more restrictive view. For the alternative would lead to standardisation of ideas either by legislatures, courts, or dominant political or community groups. (8)

The second argument -- that racist, sexist or homophobic statements are group libels -- is likewise dismissed. The authors point out that libel involves the publication of information about someone that is both damaging and false. Apart from the obvious fact that group libel doesn't refer to an individual does it fit the definition? Henry Louis Gates Jr. states that it does not. He points out that racist statements may be right or wrong but cannot in many forms be judged true or false. they are often statements of what the individual thinks should be or an expression of feeling. As Gates points out : You cannot libel someone by saying 'I despise you', which seems to be the essential message of most racial epithets. (9)

The last argument -- that such speech represents an assault or words that wound -- is examined, and also dismissed. The authors accept that words can cause harm. Their concern, however, is that no code can be drawn in such a way as to punish only words which stigmatise and dehumanise. They point out that the most harmful forms of racist language are precisely those that combine insult with advocacy -- those that are in short the most political. (10) Attempts to deny that racist speech has a political content also deny that they are part of a larger mechanism of political subordination.

So, can we combat hatred on grounds of race, gender or sexual preference whilst cherishing and nurturing civil liberties? Can we encourage a diversity of thought as well as of population and lifestyle? The answer given by the authors of this book is an emphatic 'yes'. They don't see equality of opportunity and freedom of expression as being at odds. As such, their ideas are refreshing in contrast to the many who seem to have quite unthinkingly accepted that we must sacrifice our freedom on an altar of (faked) equality... ... Read more

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By reassessing the history of the civil rights movement and examining questions and areas of research that need to be addressed by future studies, New Directions in Civil Rights Studies challenges students of the civil rights movement to broaden their vision and, at the same time, to look more closely at the people, the communities, and the networks that provide the rich texture of the movement's history.