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The Walls of Jericho : Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights

Average customer rating:

A Must Read
Story of struggle and inspiration
A highly perceptive and well written account.
An excellent book on civil rights and politics
high praise for an intricately balanced book

The Walls of Jericho : Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights
Robert Mann
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151000654

Amazon.com

A powerful account of America at its best--Congress ratifying a national demand for civil rights for blacks. Robert Mann, a veteran Senate aid, recalls the political courage of Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas and Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota against the Senate. Despite criticism from liberals and conservatives, the two worked together to combat Richard B. Russell of Georgia, chairman of the Armed Services committee and leader of the Southern Democrats' effort to block civil rights measures. The tenacity and creativity of Johnson and Humphrey led to Russell's demise and the passing of John F. Kennedy's civil rights bill in 1965.

Book Description

In a Â“rich and engrossingÂ” narrative (Philadelphia Inquirer) that is Â“filled with sparring and thrilling maneuversÂ” (San Diego Union-Tribune), Robert Mann brings to life the high-stakes political gamesmanship that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Black-and-white photographs.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read.......2004-09-09

Robert Mann writes the definitive book on the inner workings of Washington. The story of how the civil rights legislation passed in the mid 60's got its start at the 1948 Democratic convention is compelling. It is difficult to put down once you've started. The characters are larger than life, Humphrey, the passionate and visionary liberal, Johnson the pragmatic magician of the senate and later president, Richard Russell, the dean of the southern conservatives, Strom Thurmond, Richard Nixon, Everett Dirksen all provide color for the book and show the deal making, cojoling and outright intimidation that was used to achieve these milestones in legislative history. Mr. Mann shows the human side of all the players while providing an excellent overview of how legislation is borne, cultivated and finally passed. If you want to understand how the system works, read this book.

Story of struggle and inspiration.......2002-02-24

The Walls of Jericho offers a riveting, close-up and personal review of the political struggles of the Civil Rights movement, seen through the eyes of three is its major protagonists. Author Robert Mann carries us to know and understand southerner, racist Richard Russell, southerner human rights supporter Lyndon Johnson, and northerner firebrand liberal Hubert Humphrey. We agree with them, or disagree with them, Mann allows us to understand where they are coming from. In the end, they are good men trying to do good things, as they see them to be good. I was emotionally struck in reading about the personal, political, and social interplay.

A highly perceptive and well written account........2002-01-07

This is a clear discussion of the process whereby civil rights legislation passed the Senate in the late 1950's and the 1960's, despite the filibusters threatened and actual of the Southern Democratic senators. It could easily have been a book about political re-alignment as well, but it would probably need to be twice as long. Many of the trends that dictated the course of American politics in the 1960's are seen in microcosm in this book - Would the South bolt the Democratic Party? Would the Democrats capture the African-American vote from the party of Lincoln? Could a Southern Democrat win the Whitehouse? Would the Dixiecrats throw the presidency to the GOP? It is an extremely clear narrative, that occasionally looks at the bigger picture of American politics, and records the force of personality in parliamentary politics. It clearly records the seismic changes that the wily and calculating LBJ, as an otherwise unelectable Southern Democrat, wrought to the Democratic Party after President Kennedy's death, in the search for a personal victory in the 1964 presidential election.

An excellent book on civil rights and politics.......2001-03-07

Having grown up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Hubert Humphrey is remembered and revered, and then living in Atlanta, Georgia for 14 years, the land of Martin Luther King and Richard Russell (and the region of LBJ), I was very intrigued by the subject of this book. I also found it refreshingly evenhanded, yet an intimate and personal view into one of the most important periods of American history, written about a subject that not only is in the forefront of out collective attention, but has been so since before our nation was founded. Not only that, it was a good read, with as much excitement and plot twists as the latest from Grisham.

If you are at all interested in Civil Rights, or you just like reading about politics, this is a very good place to start.

high praise for an intricately balanced book.......1998-09-23

Can America's favorite topic of dissent--race--in an historical context be explained rationally and with fairness from all perspectives? Anyone reading this book, which looks at the finely nuanced legislative maneuvers of those who both proposed as well as opposed the major civil rights initiatives of the 1960s in Congress, would have to say yes. Robert Mann, who is also the author of a fine and revealing biography of Louisiana Senator Russell Long, pulls off what seems like the impossible as he serves up deeply sympathetic profiles of Senator Richard Russell, who maintained a last-ditch effort against civil rights legislation, the always-bouyant Hubert Humprey, who was civil right's greatest friend in Washington, and Lyndon Johnson, who, in an act of unheralded nobility, staked his entire presidency upon the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the even-more politically vital 1965 Voting Rights Act. Most of us know the civil rights struggle from the perspective of the brave activists, inspired by Martin Luther King, who fought for their vision on the streets. Now meet the mysterious and mighty men of Washington who transformed that vision into reality.

LAST ONE OVER THE WALL: THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIMENT IN CLOSING

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Not a good book
Last One Over the Wall: The Massachusetts Experiment ...

LAST ONE OVER THE WALL: THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIMENT IN CLOSING
JEROME G. MILLER
Manufacturer: Ohio State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0814207588

Customer Reviews:

Not a good book.......2003-06-26

You read this book and leave feeling manipulated and unsure of the author. The author describes his own...escapades and how everyone in the entire world was against him. He had a great idea, and I am very glad that he was able to succeed in removing the institutions in Maryland. However, no one can be as inept as he describes himself and still succeed. Read between the lines and his manipulation is very apparent, and you can begin to see just how he ticked so many people off. The book is self-serving and at times incoherent.

Last One Over the Wall: The Massachusetts Experiment ..........2001-06-12

Dr. Miller's perspective of the events surrounding the reform of juvenile justice in the Commonwealth amplifies the complications that politics have on doing the right things for the right reasons. His description of the criminality of institutions shows the side of "justice" that is not often seen - his style of writing is engaging and incisive, with no apologies for calling it as he sees it. I heartily recommend this book for anyone wishing to gain insight into juvenile justice issues within a political framework.

The Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the Fbi's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States (South End Press Classics Series, Volume, 8)

Average customer rating:

Wild Book, Strange Author
COINTELPRO papers review
Very good but much is left out!
ministry of love
Sometimes Desert Is Better Than the Meal

The Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the Fbi's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States (South End Press Classics Series, Volume, 8)
Ward Churchill , and Jim Vander Wall
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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War at Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It (South End Press Pamphlet Series, No. 6)
On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality
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ASIN: 0896086488

Book Description

Readers anxious about civil liberties under George W. Bush will find fodder for fears-and suggestions for activism-in The COINTELPRO Papers. Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall's expose of America's political police force, the FBI, reveals the steel fist undergirding "compassionate conservatism's" velvet glove. Using original FBI memos, the authors provide extensive analysis of the agency's treatment of the left, from the Communist Party in the 1950s to the Central America solidarity movement in the 1980s. The authors' new introduction posits likely trajectories for domestic repression.

Ward Churchill is author of From a Native Son. Jim Vander Wall is co-author of Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, with Ward Churchill.

Customer Reviews:

Wild Book, Strange Author.......2007-02-22

This is an interesting book by an even more interesting author. In fact, the actions of the author tend to make me doubt the whole idea of the book.

First the book. This is a reprint of a book first issued in 1990 that proports to show a whole series of documents obtained from the FBI. They show that the FBI went to great lengths, some of them illegal to seek evidence against, and bring scorn against numerous left wing organiztions such as the Communist Party, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement and others.

In addition to the reprinted portion of the book, Mr. Churchill has written a new preface that makes further allegations against the FBI, particularily in regard to Waco.

Now the author. Some reviews have indicated that he is a fake, having basically made up a lot of what he says. Without repeating all of the material here, Mr. Churchill claims (in this book) to be an Indian. The Indian tribes of which he claims to be amember say he is not. Disciplinary hearings against him at the University of Colorado have recommended his being terminated as a professor.

Do a search on Google and Wikipedia for more information and make up your own mind.

COINTELPRO papers review.......2007-01-10

This is a detailed review of available FBI documents relating to subversive and dissident groups as defined in the wake of the McCarren / Mccarthyism era and deemed a threat to the US interest. Alarming material shows how the FBI framed and planted "evidence" in order to control and destroy elements in a supposed free society. A good read for a political and intelligence analysts in the ever changing and modern world.

Very good but much is left out!.......2006-11-29

This book reproduces and analyzes cointelpro documents acquired through the FOIA. It is funny how the United States government expects its citizens to obey its laws but yet it goes out of its way to target, harass and persecute people who are not breaking any laws themselves. Which is made even worse when the government is often breaking the very laws they are supposed to uphold in the process.

There are individual chapters in this on black nationalist groups, socialist and communist groups, the American Indian Movement and other left wing oriented organizations. Another plus to The Cointelpro Papers is if you are involved in political activism this book can help you identify tactics that may be used against you or the group you are involved with.

The biggest fault this book has is Churchill is one of these leftists that believes in the psychotic delusion that the US Government is some sort of pro-white/white supremacist entity. Ha ha! Yeah thats why they have made MLK into some sort of holy figure, they have created affirmative action and allow mass immigration to displace white (and black) Americans in the work place. He also more or less ignores the illegal tactics employed against the KKK in the south where they sent a virtual army of FBI agents into southern states when the Klan was resisting integration. Undercover FBI agents were responsible for the murder of the pregnant wife of a Klansman named Kathy Ainsworth not to mention undercover agents perpetrated or instigated much of the violent acts attributed to the Klan. Why wasn't this brought up in this book?!?! While there were many wrongs committed against left wing and non-white political activists the fact that Churchill ignores what was done with the Klan, and in later years with militia groups, as well as white nationalist (and environmental) groups to this very day shows that Churchill has a blatant anti-white agenda and keeps what is a good book, from being great.

ministry of love.......2005-07-02

In The COINTELPRO Papers, Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall chronicle decades of disruptive and secretive attacks by the FBI on those with whom they do not feel ideologically aligned¡Xnamely, those who are a threat in any way to capitalism or to the current power structures within the United States and abroad. The authors contend that the FBI has launched seemingly countless attacks upon peaceful and law-abiding organizations and their members for no reason other than their philosophical deviance from the political mindset of the American status quo. The authors chronicle case after case after case of the FBI engaging in illegal and unsettling practices and activities in their ongoing efforts to discredit any organization or individual espousing radical or alternative socio-economic views.
Every allegation made by the authors is backed up by copies of original FBI documents and memos chronicling the activities of our nation¡¦s ¡§political police¡¨ in the words of the agents themselves, lest the authors should be accused of ridiculous and unfounded accusations (as conservative apologists and spinners of propaganda are so apt to maintain¡Xan issue addressed in the introduction to the text). The points argued in this book lend tremendous credibility to a radical elitist stance on American politics¡Xin that they shine light on the terrible extremes to which conservative authorities will go to eliminate any expression of political opposition.x
In this book, Churchill and Vander Wall focus heavily on the ¡§COINTELPRO¡¨ (COunterINTELligence PROgrams) operations launched both officially and unofficially against organizations such as the Communist Party, USA (CP, USA), Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, the Black Liberation Movement¡Xparticularly the Black Panther Party (BPP), the ¡§New Left¡¨¡Xparticularly the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the American Indian Movement (AIM). The authors focus special attention on the tactics utilized by the FBI during their official COINTELPRO era, which was from the mid-1950¡¦s to 1971, and demonstrate that regardless of whether or not the acronym is still in use, the FBI has never abandoned those tactics¡Xif anything, their COINTELPRO-style tactics have only escalated over the years.
And what are COINTELPRO-style tactics exactly? The most frequently used of those tactics (officially authorized, documented, and bragged about by J. Edgar Hoover himself as well as many other FBI agents throughout the history of the bureau) include the intensification of confusion and dissatisfaction amongst members of targeted organizations through the use of disinformation campaigns (often launched through the cooperation of ¡§friendly¡¨ media, ¡§anonymous¡¨ letters, and the circulation and anonymous mailing of FBI generated political cartoons and fliers purporting to have been generated by members of whichever organizations the bureau sought to divide), the hiring and training of ¡§provocateurs¡¨¡Xpeople hired by the bureau to join targeted organizations and encourage division amongst members through the raising and exaggeration of controversial issues, and to inspire violence on the part of members in response to harassment campaigns launched by the FBI against them¡Xin many documented cases actual acts of terrorism were conceived of by the FBI and the plans for such acts as bombings and assassinations were brought by the provocateurs to those members of an organization they felt were most prone to violence¡Xall of this in an effort to generate fear of such organizations in the hearts of the status quo.
Also amongst the tactics frequently indulged in by the FBI are ¡§frame-ups¡¨¡Xmany officially admitted, documented, and declassified and readily available for study through the Freedom of Information Act¡Xin which Federal agents conspired to imprison targeted individuals through the use of falsified evidence and perjured testimony, as well as (one of their more disturbing techniques) efforts to pit violent organizations against peaceful organizations in the hopes that the violent would neutralize the peaceful. One example (of many presented in the book) is that of the FBI attempting to pit the Mafia against the Communist Party, USA through anonymous letters and plays upon newspaper articles, contending that the communists intended to get the ¡§thugs¡¨ out of their unions and clean up the sweatshops which the Mafia was known for running. The bureau hoped that the Mafia would put out ¡§hits¡¨ on key leaders of the Communist Party, and in one memo makes favorable references to the fact that since their campaign started communist offices had suffered bombings, a ¡§typical hoodlum technique.¡¨
A truly ¡§successful¡¨ example of this same technique as utilized against the Black Panther Party (who were overwhelmingly peaceful despite many efforts by the bureau to inspire them to violence) is that of the FBI sending an anonymous letter, attributed to the Panthers, to the violence prone United Slaves. The letter ¡§revealed¡¨ a fictional plot by the BPP to assassinate US head Ron Karenga. On January 17, 1969, that letter bore fruit in the form of the shooting deaths of two BPP leaders by three members of the US in a classroom at UCLA. The great ¡§success¡¨ of this letter is that with it the FBI was able to pit two Black Liberation organizations against each other, thus neutralizing their effective pursuits of their own causes while significantly weakening the efforts of the others: the winners¡Xthe FBI and the status quo, the losers¡XBlack Liberation as a whole.
Also, not entirely uncommon behavior on part of the FBI is the effort to push targeted individuals to take their own lives through blackmail. One particularly disturbing, though unsuccessful, example of this is the case of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After utilizing mass-media propaganda campaigns pertaining to Dr. King¡¦s supposed ¡§communist influences¡¨ and sexual proclivities, as well as a harassment campaign by the IRS, FBI audio technician John Matter compiled an audio tape of Dr. King allegedly engaged in ¡§orgiastic¡¨ trysts with prostitutes. The FBI then mailed this tape to Dr. King along with an anonymous letter ¡§informing King that the audio material would be released to the media unless he committed suicide prior to bestowal of the Nobel Prize.¡¨ They had hoped that in the wake of all the stress and under the fear of such press Dr. King would follow the advice and take his own life. He didn¡¦t, and the tape was subsequently rejected by Benjamin Bradlee of Newsweek. Perhaps it was too flimsy and too poor in taste for even ¡§friendly¡¨ media.
The authors also fly through case after case of ¡§punitive prosecution¡¨ orchestrated by the FBI against targeted individuals¡Xthe point of the prosecution having never been to even imprison, only to keep those they viewed as threats preoccupied with their own legal struggles. During many FBI sweeps in which some of those punitively prosecuted were arrested, it was not uncommon for the agents to completely trash the offices and equipment belonging to the organizations for which those people worked. In one raid on Black Panther offices, police even ¡§destroyed bulk food the Panthers were distributing free to ghetto children.¡¨
In their operations against organizations such as SDS and AIM, the FBI utilized all of the same aforementioned tactics¡Xeven after 1971, the year in which COINTELPRO had been officially terminated. The cases chronicled and the supporting FBI documents are downright overwhelming, alarming, and sickening. I¡¦ll leave the descriptions of such cases to the authors, who (unfortunately) maintain that even they have hardly scratched the surface in exposing the conservative terrorism perpetrated by the FBI on the American people.
In the concluding chapter of this book, Churchill and Vander Wall illustrate the advent of the word ¡§terrorism¡¨ and its use since 1972 to justify ongoing COINTELPRO efforts on the part of the FBI, though the acronym has been dropped the tactics and the secrecy are all still in place. Though the FBI is no longer fighting ¡§communism¡¨ and has instead found a new enemy in ¡§terrorism,¡¨ the American people are no safer now from their dishonesty and oppressive tactics than they have been since the official formation of
COINTELPRO. As an American, who hears the word ¡§terror¡¨ thrown around by politicians and law enforcement officers on a daily basis, and who has unfortunately found himself aware of such alarming facts as ¡§at present, the U.S. enjoys the dubious distinction of having a greater proportion of its population incarcerated than any western industrialized country,¡¨ I do have to wonder how exactly we¡¦re going to spread ¡§freedom and democracy¡¨ to the rest of the world when history reveals we¡¦ve always been afraid of freedom and democracy here.
The facts and quotes about the modern day prison system in this country and its expanding usage of sensory deprivation techniques designed to cause the psychological breakdown of political detainees sounded so Orwellian that I¡¦m sure even George Orwell would be shocked. In the FBI we¡¦ve found our ¡§Thought Police¡¨ and in our prison system we¡¦ve found our ¡§Ministry of Love.¡¨ And in our own hearts, it seems, we¡¦re too terrified to react. Perhaps Big Brother is already watching us all.

Sometimes Desert Is Better Than the Meal.......2003-05-06

Ward Churchil and Jim Vander Wall have done an outstanding and meticulous job in assembling and explaining the FBI's secret war on dissent in America, no wonder America is plagued with criminals, the supposed "good guys" are all out on black bag jobs committing their own crimes!!

Since it is a well known historical fact that J. Edgar Hoover, America's semen stained supercop, was blackmailed by the mafia into silence, it stands to reason that he would need a new enemy to focus the attention of the American people. What better enemy than home grown political dissenters who would destroy the genteel American order--white men first.

The book focuses upon the FBI's most notorious episodes--the COINTELPRO efforts against the Communist Party USA, Socialist Workers Party, the New Left, the American Indian Movement and the Black Panthers as demonstrative proof of the Bureau's efforts to undermine and destroy the constitutional rights of all Americans.

It is, for me, the concluding chapter that ties everything together and offers some real life solutions to the peristent cancer that is the FBI. From 1956 to the "offical end" of COINTELPRO in 1971, the FBI committed:

* 2,218 separate actions.

*2,305 admitted warrantless telephone taps.

*697 "bugs against domestic political targets."

*57,486 CIA mail intercepts.

"During the various Congressional committee investigations, the Bureau carefully hid the facts of its involvement in the 1969 Hampton-Clark assassinations. Simultaneously, it was covering up its criminal witholding of exculpatory evidence in the murder trial of LA Panther leader Geronimo Pratt." page 303.

At the end, the authors offer the inescapable conclusion that priority number one is for the left to develop a strategy to come to grips with the FBI and the escalating power of "law enforcement" as well as the implications and consequences of the merging of the U.S. military and the domestic law enforcement appartus.

Churchill and Vander Wall have written an excellent book which recounts history and warns us of the impending scenario we face by ignoring the increased power of the FBI, the US military and law enforcement in general.

Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement (South End Press Classics Series, Volume, 7)

Average customer rating:

Don't Worry About The Government
The suppression of domestic dissent by the FBI

Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement (South End Press Classics Series, Volume, 7)
Ward Churchill , and Jim Vander Wall
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conspiracy Theories | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the Fbi's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States (South End Press Classics Series, Volume, 8)
War at Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It (South End Press Pamphlet Series, No. 6)
The Black Panther Party [Reconsidered]
The Black Panthers Speak
A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present

ASIN: 0896086461

Book Description

For those wondering how Bill Clinton could pardon white-collar fugitive Marc Rich but not Native American leader Leonard Peltier, important clues can be found in this classic study of the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). Agents of Repression includes an incisive historical account of the FBI siege of Wounded Knee, and reveals the viciousness of COINTELPRO campaigns targeting the Black Liberation movement. The authors' new introduction examines the legacies of the Panthers and AIM, and shows how the FBI still presents a threat to those committed to fundamental social change.

Ward Churchill is author of From a Native Son. Jim Vander Wall is co-author of The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States, with Ward Churchill.

Customer Reviews:

Don't Worry About The Government.......2006-11-12

The reissue of Agents of Repression is not only based on the historical significance of the book, but also the concerns expressed by co-author Ward Churchill in his lectures and writings about the direction of this nation with the advent of the Department of Homeland Security and legislative measures that have trampled over the Bill of Rights.

The book was published in 1988 based on the then ongoing litigation by some government officials against an author and publisher who had a work published concerning the illegal repression of AIM.

Agents of Repression is basically split into four sections; a history of the FBI, the government's war against the Black Panther Party, a lengthy exploration of AIM and the steps taken by a variety of government departments to destroy the grass-roots movement and how nothing has changed in the 1980s.

For readers who have explored these issues through other forums, it is an outstanding history. Readers who may be researching this era for the first time, I highly recommend the book since it takes larger topics and breaks them down into succinct chapters.

Churchill became the punching bag for the lightweight talking-heads on cable "news" shows more than a year ago due to comments he made in an academic setting concerning 9/11.

I urge a potential book-buyer to disregard that rhetoric and disinformation campaign waged against the co-author Churchill and consider that perhaps the payback for truly believing in civil rights means the attempt to silence him.

The suppression of domestic dissent by the FBI.......2003-07-16

This book maintains that the primary purpose of the FBI, from its inception and at least through to the late 1980s when Agents of Repression was first published, was to repress political groups and individuals who posed a threat to the status quo. The text is accompanied by heavy documentation and I was often reminded of the writing style of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman. The focus here, however, is on the domestic crimes of the government. Churchell and Vander Wall show that the FBI was willing to use massive illegal force (including assasination) to repress political enemies and serve the interests of those in power. This is an excellent eye-opener to the true nature of the Bureau and the harsh crimes visited upon the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party and others such as the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. One is left wondering what activities the FBI has engaged in since the '80s and especially since 9/11. The best book I've read in some time.

Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making And Unmaking of the Black Panther Party

Average customer rating:

Fascinating, Engaging & Provoking...

Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making And Unmaking of the Black Panther Party
Curtis J. Austin
Manufacturer: University of Arkansas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1557288275

Book Description

The story of the Black Panther Party's Pyrrhic Victory

Curtis J. Austin chronicles how violence brought about the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, dominated its policies, and brought about the party's destruction as one member after another—Eldridge Cleaver, Fred Hampton, Alex Rackley—left the party, was killed, or was imprisoned. Austin shows how the party's early emphasis in the 1960s on self-defense, though sorely needed in black communities at the time, left it open to mischaracterization, infiltration, and devastation by local, state, and federal police forces and government agencies. Austin carefully highlights the internal tension between advocates of a more radical position than the Panthers took, who insisted on military confrontation with the state and those, such as Newton and David Hilliard, who believed in making community organizing and alliance building their first priorities.

Austin interviewed a number of party members who had heretofore remained silent. With the help of these stories, Austin is able to put the violent history of the party in perspective and show that the "survival" programs such as the Free Breakfast for Children program and Free Health Clinics helped the black communities they served to recognize their own bases of power and ability to save themselves.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating, Engaging & Provoking..........2007-03-24

This book provides an important look at the Black Panther Party in all of its complexities. Although the main focus is on violence in the creation and deterioration of the BPP, the book has a wealth of historical information about the time period as a whole. As someone who has only a limited education on the Black Panther Party and the Black Power movement, I found this book to be a major contribution to my knowledge base, understanding and awareness. Austin gives insight into the climate of the nation prior to the founding of the party, so it was easy for me to see why the Black Panther Party was initially needed in the local community and why it later gained national popularity. As the book unfolded, it also became easy to see why the party had failures in some areas...
This book has truly been invaluable in my understanding of not just black history, but also of American history. I would not only recommend this book to those who wanted to increase their historical knowledge---I would recommend the book to anybody who is looking for an engaging read. This book is an absolute page-turner! It is filled with story after story detailing the rise and fall of the BPP, which includes anything from day-to-day life as a Panther and armed defense against police attacks to the COINTELPRO operation and government infiltration. Although I started the book slowly because of my busy schedule, I became increasingly engrossed as it went on---the more I read of the book, the less I wanted to put it down!

Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security

Average customer rating:

useful but flawed
reveals the vulnerability of the people's republic of china
Must read for students of contemporary China
Mandatory reading.
Insightful view from the "other" side of the fence

Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security
Andrew Nathan , and Robert S. Ross
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393317846

Book Description

Many see China and the United States on the path to confrontation. The Chinese leadership violates human rights norms. It maintains a harsh rule in Tibet, spars aggressively with Taiwan, and is clamping down on Hong Kong. A rising power with enormous assets, China increasingly considers American interests an obstacle to its own. But, the authors argue, the United States is the least of China's problems. Despite its sheer size, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military forces, China remains a vulnerable power, crowded on all sides by powerful rivals and potential foes. As it has throughout its history, China faces immense security challenges, and their sources are at and within China's own borders. China's foreign policy is calibrated to defend its territorial integrity against antagonists who are numerous, near, and strong. The authors trace the implications of this central point for China's relations with the United States and the rest of the world.

Customer Reviews:

useful but flawed.......2001-09-14

National security is a term we're used to hearing in the United States, but with rare exception "security threats" are in fact threats to America's vast informal empire abroad (military bases, troop deployments, the security of client regimes and business interests). As Ross and Nathan ably show, this is emphatically not the case for China. Even though "China is stronger today and its borders more secure than at any other time in the last 150 years", it continues to face a bewildering array of vulnerabilities -- from internal unrest to border insecurity to economic instability.

This book is a good corrective to the growing right-wing trend of playing up the "China threat". Ross and Nathan make clear that China's goals are not particularly ambitious and their capabilities so limited that even if the sinister cabal of Communists plotting against America's beneficent reign were real, it would be hard pressed to act out its evil intentions. Chapter 8, in particular, demolishes the idea that China's military will any time soon provide a real challenge to Japan, much less the USA.

Despite the great service Ross and Nathan provide in refuting the containment school's arguments, this book also has basic problems. Because it is a survey, the authors can only superficially treat each of the many issues raised. They do a good job of integrating history and current events, and the book should be quite useful for those mostly unfamiliar with its topics, but for those with more detailed knowledge it will often by unsatisfying.

Second, the authors use the national security paradigm to orient their analysis, but seem unaware of the drawbacks to such an approach. "National" security indulges the false idea that all groups and individuals within a nation can share the same interests and that national leaders act, fundamentally, on behalf of the whole population. In reality security policies generally hurt the interests of some groups while advancing those of others, and China's leaders act to perpetuate their own power and the power of the Communist Party, and to protect the interests of the increasingly influential business elite. The authors' inability to consider such matters leads them to seriously downplay the ruling class's increasing economic exploitation of workers and its violent domination of ethnically non-Han peoples in East Turkestan/Xinjiang, Tibet/Xizang, and Inner Mongolia.

And finally, the authors approach the subject from the perspective of the engagement school, which has both strengths (discussed above) and very serious weaknesses. Proponents of engagement are ideologically incapable of seeing that the current global economic system is based on inequality, exploitation, and the denial of people's basic needs (food, health care, shelter) and that it is upheld by American military domination of other people. Ross and Nathan's ultimate recommendation, then, is that China be safely integrated into this system -- not because doing so will help the Chinese people, but because doing so removes a threat to the safe operation of a fundamentally unjust world order.

reveals the vulnerability of the people's republic of china.......2001-07-28

Nathan and Ross have constructed an excellent book discussing the vulnerability of China. The book goes into great depth discussing issues such as: Taiwanese independence, nuclear proliferation, the strength of the chinese military, the necessity of U.S. intervention in Asia, the relationships existing between China and Japan or the two Koreas, Tibetan freedom, technological exchange with Pakistan. Ultimately, Nathan and Ross conclude that China is a weak and vulnerable country that is more concerned with maintaining its borders and internal stability than initiated a policy of imperialism. This book is a great edition for any student of Asian Politics. Easy to read.

Must read for students of contemporary China.......2000-06-16

Andrew J. Nathan and Robert S. Ross's THE GREAT WALL AND THE EMPTY FORTRESS is a clearly and tightly written presentation of Chinese foreign policy and defense issues. It is as reliable in its treatment of aspects of the pre-modern Chinese state and society that impinged on the course of modern Chinese affairs as it is authoritative (and well documented) in its analysis of the contemporary Chinese situation. With books on contemporary Chinese affairs, one must be concerned with material becoming dated, but though this book is some four years old in content, nearly its entirety is nevertheless very relevant. Its treatment of Chinese-Taiwan relations, for instance, is still on the mark. Since the book was written before the restoration of Hong Kong to China, the reader will not be able to glean anything new about that situation here. However that may be, this book remains as "must reading" for any student of contemporary China. The reader will happily discover that the style is eminently readable.

Mandatory reading........2000-02-03

This book should be mandatory reading for anybody interested in China, or in world politics. Nathan and Ross explain China's place in the international political arena, both froom Chinese perspective and from western point of view.

Excellent!

Insightful view from the "other" side of the fence.......1999-07-28

I am rather disturbed by the negative review one of the other readers presented. Apparently, the message that Nathan/Ross present in this work is greatly needed... a message that that reader chose to ignore.

This is a book about Chinese motivation. This is not a book seeking to pass historical judgement on the actions of a regime that has evolved over the past five decades. This is not a book seeking to present Western justification for any particular view of where China is going. This is a book about why the Chinese government usually acts, as most of us, in a rational manner within its framework of desires and wishes. Without understanding that particular framework, it's a hopeless fallacy to believe that you can truly explain the actions of the PRC.

Was the PRC's actions in Tibet a matter of territorial integrity? Nathan/Ross doesn't bother trying to advocate any particular view on this, or any other, controversial matter. They DO however suggest that from the perspective of the Chinese, the events in Tibet follow rationally from a consistent foreign policy that values territorial integrity.

This is a crucial book for anyone that wants facts, not more rhetoric.

Amnesty International: From the Republic of Conscience 2007 Wall Calendar

Average customer rating:

great calendar
Great pictures for a great cause
Quick delivery and in good condition
Good photos for a good cause

Amnesty International: From the Republic of Conscience 2007 Wall Calendar
Universe Publishing , and Magnum Photos
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

General | Calendars | Formats | Books

Human Rights | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International
2007 George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown wall calendar: Two Years and Counting
Sierra Club 2007 Wilderness Calendar
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Infidel

ASIN: 0789314223

Customer Reviews:

great calendar.......2007-05-08

couldn't be happier with it - gorgeous pictures, great cause and it was delivered ahead of schedule.

Great pictures for a great cause.......2007-02-16

I was looking for a 2007 calendar for my son's room, and saw the special on Amazon for the Amnesty International calendar. Not only does it offer great photography each month, but I was able to introduce the organization to my son. Great pictures, great cause.

Quick delivery and in good condition.......2007-02-13

I recieved the calendar carefully wrapped in a cardboard box. The item arrived only 3 business days after I purchased it.

Good photos for a good cause.......2007-01-05

An interesting selection of black & white and color photos from the Magnum photographic cooperative showing people from all over the world. The tone is optimistic and life-affirming, and the cause is certainly worthwhile!

Average customer rating:

The Wall Around the West
Peter Snyder, Timothy Andreas
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Emigration & Immigration | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Even as economic and military walls have come down in the post-Cold War era, states have rapidly built new barriers to prevent a perceived invasion of undesirables. Nowhere is this more dramatically evident than along the geographic fault lines dividing rich from poor countries: especially the southern border of the United States, and the southern and eastern borders of the European Union. This volume examines the practice, politics, and consequences of building these new walls in North America and Europe. At the same time, it challenges dominant accounts of globalization, in which state borders will be irrelevant to the human experience.

Average customer rating:

Excellent book!

The Wall Between
Anne Braden
Manufacturer: University of Tennessee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden And the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South (Civil Rights and the Struggle for Black Equality in the Twentieth Century)
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (Gender and American Culture)
Coming of Age in Mississippi
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (America in the King Years)

ASIN: 1572330619

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book!.......2000-05-04

I read The Wall Between, and I must say that it was a very informative book. It showed that the Civil Rights Movement did have an effect on both blacks and whites, and that there were indeed whites who made sacrifices for the cause. It also gave another perspective that is usually not seen - that of a white female who was involved in this movement. Learning about Anne and Carl Braden's lives before their decision to purchase the house for the Wades, was very instrumental in understanding why they made this decision. At times, the author seemed long-winded, but the information provided helped to understand how she felt about the decisions being made that affected not only her, and but also her family. Overall, the book was excellent!

LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW --- The Wall Unit

Average customer rating:

A story about an innocent man. A Powerful, true tragedy of injustice.
Executing the Innocent
justice for ALL
The Publisher Speaks
No evidence for claims

LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW --- The Wall Unit
Norma, Herrera
Manufacturer: Nightengale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Legal System | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Human Rights | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families

ASIN: 1933449292

Book Description

Norma Herrera lived her brother's personal hell as he waited on Death Row for the courts to decide if the new evidence that proved Leonel Herrera's innocence would save his life. Her book fulfills her last promise to Leo: to tell his story, to tell the truth. "Federal habeas courts do not sit to correct errors of fact but to ensure the individuals are not imprisoned in violation of the Constitution," it said. In other words, being falsely imprisoned is not a violation of your rights. Herrera was executed four months after the ruling. In his final statement he said: "I am innocent, innocent, innocent. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight." Norma Herrera's book documents court events and press coverage. She recounts the tribulations she and her family suffered as they worked to free Leonel Herrera from his fate. If the all the court proceedings, including the Supreme Court's decision prior to Leo's execution represent the visible tip of the death penalty iceberg, LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW exposes the enormous human tragedy that resides below the surface. Her questions drive a powerful wedge between the legal process in capital cases and the truth. Why do the guilty go unpunished? When is innocence not enough to free a convicted man? Does Truth not prevail in the American Justice system? Who pays? We all do. Who is next?

Customer Reviews:

A story about an innocent man. A Powerful, true tragedy of injustice........2007-05-07

Once convicted, Innocence is Irrelevant
This story tells of a man who was convicted and could prove his innocence, but it was past the 30 days that was allowed to show new evidence. So, Anyone who is convicted of a crime, no matter what it is, could only have 30 days to prove otherwise. What if was someone in your family and evidence was suppressed beyond the 30 day limit? Too bad. We kill you anyway. Justice is blind and will always turn a blind eye to new evidence, because it is too late then. A very compelling story how one lone woman who tried to save her brother and show that he was with her during the killings and couldn't have been anywhere near where it happened. Also the car that was supposed to be the one he was driving was up on blocks and hadn't even been driveable. The witness couldn't even identify the car until it was pointed out to them, even then it was the wrong car as stated in a newspaper article about the killings.

Executing the Innocent.......2007-05-07

As a long time anti-death-penalty activist and abolitionist, I've been familiar with the Leonel Herrera story since the time the events were taking place. I've been eager for this book to come out, so I could learn the previously unpublished details, which I did. But I'm disappointed with the book itself. Here's why: the privately-published book was poorly edited, or more likely, not edited at all, and it shows. It abounded in spelling errors, occasional misuse of words, poor syntax, and every imaginable gramatical error. No matter how good a story, no matter how informative, no matter how vital and accurate the infomation contained, a book with all those errors instantly loses credibility. As a writer myself, it made me cringe. And the book was poorly organized; Norma Herrera opens with boring legal citations that should have been in an appendix. Most readers would put it down right from the start. She needed to start with the STORY, and plug in the legal technicalities at the end. The only reason I hung on was because I knew about the case, and knew the meat of the story was coming. But most readers would reject from page one a book that doesn't catch their attention. Leo Herrera was innocent, but the courts said, effectively, [paraphrased]"It's OK to execute an innocent person who's been wrongly condemned, AS LONG AS THE TRIAL WAS CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF LAW." That's crazy, and has made us the laughing stock of civilized nations, all of whom have abolished capital punishment. Forget the grammar and spelling, please. The story itself is told with plentiful details and lots of emotion, as it should be, and it was a very good read. I believe this story is a must-read for all the American people. How can we continue to feel pride in our nation and its laws, when the Supreme Court and its then Chief Justice, William Rehnquist, said in essence to the always eager to execute state of Texas, [paraphrased] "You must kill this man, even though he has proof of his innocence, because the law says so." Many people erroneously believe that criminals may be released "on a technicality," something that actually happens very rarely. This story demonstrates, contrary to all common sense, that technicalities can, and often do, result in the execution of innocent persons at a far greater rate than a guilty person getting away with a crime due to a technicality. Don't miss this book. It's an exciting "whodunit," even though we know from the start how it will end.

justice for ALL.......2007-04-25

justice and reality stands for all!! Damn good book. True reality - this is real life!

The Publisher Speaks.......2007-04-25

Ms. Herrera has opened the well of pain she and her family lived for all to see in her book LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW. There are some in The Valley, where the events in her book took place, who seek to defame Ms. Herrera's work. This is understandable, when they experience their own pain in actually reading her book. But, take heed. There are some who have reviewed this book without reading it. People contacted us to try to prevent the publication of LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW. These are the people who do not want any truth known other than their own. I encourage them to write their own book about this execution and the events that led to it. I invite them to read LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW before they write their "review" in the vain attempt to discredit this book. The death penalty legal community hails it as a true revelation, and side with Ms. Herrera. We stand behind this book and its author, and would say to all who come to read these reviews, this book is powerful and hits home. Otherwise, why would there be any blatantly self-serving "review" claiming that the truth in this book is false? Be thinkers. Read LAST WORDS FROM DEATH ROW.
Valerie Connelly
Publisher
Nightengale Press

No evidence for claims.......2007-04-22

My father, David I. Rucker, was one of the two police officers who were killed that night. I was ten when my father was murdered, my brother was eight and my sister was six. He was a wonderful father to us and a good, moral person. He was loved and admired by many. Ms. Herrera has a right to publish a book maintaining her brother's innocence. That is fine. She does not, however, have the right to claim that my father was part of a drug cartel. She has no evidence for this claim, it is slander, and I am comforted by the fact that anyone who knew my father will not believe he was a member of a cartel. I encourage people who are interested in this case to research the facts carefully for themselves. You will find no evidence to support Ms. Herrera's claim that my father was a member of a cartel. I highly discourage anyone from buying this book and helping Ms. Herrera profit from dragging my father's name in the mud.

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