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The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame
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About The 100 Greatest Americans Of The 20th Century: A
Product Description A hundred years ago, any soapbox orator who called for women's suffrage, laws protecting the environment, an end to lynching, or a federal minimum wage was considered a utopian dreamer or a dangerous socialist. Now we take these ideas for granted -- because the radical ideas of one generation are often the common sense of the next. We all stand on the shoulders of earlier generations of radicals and reformers who challenged the status quo of their day. Unfortunately, most Americans know little of this progressive history. It isn't taught in most high schools. You can't find it on the major television networks. In popular media, the most persistent interpreter of America's radical past is Glenn Beck, who teaches viewers a wildly inaccurate history of unions, civil rights, and the American Left. The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century, a colorful and witty history of the most influential progressive leaders of the twentieth century and beyond, is the perfect antidote. Review Kirkus ReviewsCrisp, snappy bios of important progressive Americans in recent history. . . . A provocative collection that includes a timeline and a roster of up-and-coming contenders for a new century already showing signs of progress.”Jonathan KozolA compelling narrative of the major social justice movements of the United States and the ways that high ideals are transformed into action. I've found myself caught up in the sweep of history the book encompasses and in the richness of the details embedded in each story. Terrific reading.” Frances Fox PivenA great collection of gripping stories. A book you won't want to put down.” Robert KuttnerPeter Dreier's superb book is a timely and heartening reminder that America's most valuable citizens were resolute and inventive progressives. A wonderfully written antidote to this decade's choice between centrism and defeatism.” Nelson Lichtenstein, MacArthur Foundation Chair in History, University of California, Santa Barbara Skillfully crafted... a call to action for our generation and the next.” Joe Harting, KBTK's Mitch and Joe Show Dreier brings his 100 greatest Americans to life with pithy, dramatic and colorful biographies and presents them warts and all. Dreier is clearly trying not only to educate readers but also provoke them to think differently about our history and to reconsider what we mean by "great." While you might not agree with Dreier's hundred, he provides an impressive case for the importance of leadership and social movements and how progressives and radicals inside and outside of the establishment made America a more livable and humane society.” Red Weather Review (online)Dreier, a politics professor at Occidental College, has produced a labor of love that will dazzle lefty readers and offer others insights into the lives of men and women who have dedicated themselves to fostering social change in the United States. They range from the widely celebrated Jackie Robinson and Ted Kennedy to less seemly, in-your face figures like Rev. William Sloane Coffin, the Yale chaplain and antiwar activist, and Rose Schneiderman, the young Jewish immigrant, sweatshop worker, and union organizer.” Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect Blog [P]rovocatively fun. . . [T]he book is both predictably satisfying and also a discovery, with plenty of names new to this amateur Lefty history scholarand a generous B” list of another fifty of Dreier's favorites. . . . [I]n his clearly life and struggle-affirming collection of portraits of some of the greatest citizen-activists in the history of our republic, Peter Dreier might fool us into seeing something like progress. . . . Reading these lovely sketches, of real people (with failings, tragedies, mistakes made) he seems to me to add lightning velocity to betterness and betterhood.” Beyond Chron (San Francisco, CA)[G]iven the current climate of rising inequality and economic unfairness, Dreier's inspiring histories
