Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, December 02, 2005
Reading is fundamental...
Before I get to the books, I want to share something I got from the organizers of National Novel Writing Month: I suggest we spend the next eleven months exploring a few other appealing, impractical items on our to-do lists. Because the secret of November’s success is both simple and transferable: You were able to write a book because you allowed yourself to write a book. And in the coming weeks, after you’ve caught up on sleep and re-acclimated yourself to normal life, I hope you’ll sit down and make a list. It’s the most powerful list on the planet, and it’s the one entitled: “What I’m going to allow myself to do next."
Please allow me to recommend some books—all released in 2005—as potential holiday gifts. The catch is: All the authors are friends of mine but not a single one is recommended out of obligation. These books rock...no matter who wrote them:
Left Out!
How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush
Joshua Frank
http://tinyurl.com/9e6db
Deliver Me from Nowhere
Tennessee Jones
http://tinyurl.com/dzvtq
Tetched
A Novel in Fractals
Thaddeus Rutkowski
http://www.thaddeusrutkowski.com
Dining With Friends
The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine
Lee Hall & Priscilla Feral
http://tinyurl.com/do5zz
Anyone else wanna suggest a book (published in 2005)?
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"Fifty trailblazing examples of resistance in American history"
Speaking of books, Lucine Kasbarian just reviewed 50 American Revolutions for Hope Dance. Since the review is not available on line, in a rare fit of self-promotion, I’m posting an excerpt here:
What at first glance appears to be a U.S. military combat manual emblazoned with the American flag on its cover is actually a handbook about the patriotism of dissent that could become the sleeper of stocking-stuffers this holiday season. 50 American Revolutions is a concise, portable reference guide that resurrects fifty trailblazing examples of resistance in American history—pivotal for the firestorms they created as well as the social progress they engendered—though some of them remain chiefly unobserved in today’s classrooms, boardrooms, and even Oval Office.
To read the complete review, please click on “more” below.
Order 50AR here: http://tinyurl.com/dxk4y
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In closing: A message from our (sic) government directly to you:
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(Thanks, RMJ)
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COMPLETE REVIEW:
Self-educated writer Mickey Z (The Seven Deadly Spins; There is No Good War; The Murdering of My Years) skillfully demonstrates that a diploma does not a scholar make in his outstandingly researched, succinctly-written ode to the Bill of Rights, 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know.
What at first glance appears to be a U.S. military combat manual emblazoned with the American flag on its cover is actually a handbook about the patriotism of dissent that could become the sleeper of stocking-stuffers this holiday season. 50 American Revolutions is a concise, portable reference guide that resurrects fifty trailblazing examples of resistance in American history—pivotal for the firestorms they created as well as the social progress they engendered—though some of them remain chiefly unobserved in today’s classrooms, boardrooms, and even Oval Office.
This unpretentious book profiles the social movements, the rebels—and in some cases, simply those who dared to live their truths—to present a much fuller picture of American history than the histories we are taught. You will read how by the 1730s, runaway slaves forged a military and social alliance with the Seminole Indians to collectively resist colonial rule; how preteen girls in textile mills of Lowell, Mass. in the 1820s organized one of the first labor unions; how Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, moved America toward the abolition; that by exposing oil monopolies, Ida Tarbell began the tradition of “muckraking” journalism which helped to secure anti-trust laws; how labor organizer Eugene Debs ran for president from the hoosegow after being imprisoned for “anti-war,” statements, and managed to win nearly 1 million votes from behind bars; that by simply wearing trousers in the 1930s, movie star Katharine Hepburn brazenly defied social convention to ultimately usher in greater freedom of expression for women; that same-sex rights enjoyed today were fought for in 1969 when thousands rebelled against unprovoked police raids at New York’s Stonewall Inn; and how public citizen Ralph Nader helped secure car safety laws, and after foiling a GM-led entrapment plot against him, applied his legal winnings toward the establishment of the consumer rights movement.
If you already knew these all-but-forgotten bits of history, 50 American Revolutions will be a dynamic refresher course depicting how Americans have rallied for justice. If not, you’ll receive 50 mini-history lessons that, like favorite foods, go down easy but are not soon forgotten. Either way, these stirring accounts of those who dared to defy authoritarian rule will inspire readers to stand up, speak out, and keep officials accountable to the public they were elected to serve. Arranged in chronological order, starting with the Thomas Paine and the American Revolution, and ending with today’s “Parents Against Revenge for 9/11,” 50 American RevolutionsYou’re Not Supposed to Know demonstrates how very patriotic it is to question dubious government policy. A fitting gift for progressives, activists, contrarians, those too young to remember—and most of all, the unaware who need to be shown what they’ve been missing.
Lucine Kasbarian is the author of Armenia: A Rugged Land, An Enduring People (Dillon Press/Simon & Schuster).
Order 50AR here:
http://tinyurl.com/dxk4y
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
