American Radicalism
(see also Abolitionists, African American Movements, Anarchism, Anarchosyndicalism, Anti-War Movements Past, Anti-War Movement Today, Civil Rights Movement, Student Movements, Trade Unionism, Gay & Lesbian Movements, Mexican American Movements, Latino Movements, Puerto Rican American Movements, Revitalizing Democracy, Women's Suffrage, Native American Movements, New Left 1960s & many pages in the Voices of Reason section)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
The American Left Has Left Us. Don Monkerud, San Francisco Chronicle (2/13/2000).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
In the Library: Articles
Flacks, Richard. "Making history vs. making life: dilemmas of an American Left," Working Papers for a New Society 2,2 (sum 74):56-71.
Horwitz, Gerry. "Benjamin Davis, Jr., & the American Communist Party: a study in race & politics," UCLA Historical Journal 4 (1983):92-1107.
Lewis, Joel. "Earl Robinson's red, white & blue," In These Times (9/25/91):18.
Pollitt, Katha. "The other L word," Nation (9/8/97):10. On what is "left" today.
Selden, Mark. "Agnes Smedley, American radical," Monthly Review 40,5(10/88):32-42.
Wald, Alan. "The many lives of Meridel Le Sueur," Monthly Review 49,4(9/97):23-31.
Wallis, Victor. "Keeping the faith: The US left, 1968-1998," Monthly Review 50,4 (9/98):31-46.
Wischmann, Lesley. “Remembering the Haymarket anarchists: a hundred years later,” Monthly Review 39,5(10/87):17-29.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Andelman, William J. Haymarket Revisited (Chicago: Illinois Labor History Society, 1976)
Alexander, Robert J. The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites & the International Communist Opposition of the 1930's (Westport CT: Greenwood, 1981).
Altgeld, John P. Reasons for Pardoning the Haymarket Anarchists: Fielden, Neebe & Schwab (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1986).
Ameringer, Oscar. If You Don't Weaken: The Autobiography of Oscar Ameringer (NY: Holt, 1940).
Argenteri, Letizia. Tina Modotti: Between Art & Revolution (New Haven: Yale, 2003).
Ashbaugh, Carolyn. Lucy Parsons: American Revolutionary (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1976).
Avakian, Bob. From Ike to Mao & Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist: A Memoir (Chicago: Insight, 2005).
Bailey, Bill. The Kid From Hoboken: An Autobiography (SF: Circus Lithographic, 1993).
Barber, Lucy G. Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American Political Tradition (Berkeley: U. California, 2002).
Belfrage, Sally. Un-American Activities: A Memoir of the Fifties (NY: HarperCollins, 1994).
Blanc, Paul Le. Steve Nelson: American Radicalism (Pittsburgh: U. of Pittsburgh, 1981).
Brown, Michael E.; Randy Martin, Frank Rosengarten & George Snedeker (eds.) New Studies in the Politics & Culture of US Communism (NY: Monthly Review, 199?).
Browning, Frank & Frank Viviano. Love It or Leave It: An Affectionate History of the American Left (San Francisco: Foundation for National Progress, 1980).
Buhle, Mari Jo; Paul Buhle & Dan Georgakas (eds.) Encyclopedia of the American Left [1990] (2nd ed.; NY: Oxford, 1998).
__________; Paul Buhle & Harvey J. Kaye (eds.) The American Radical (NY: Routledge, 1994).
Buhle, Paul & others (eds.) Free Spirits: Annals of the Insurgent Imaginaton (San Francisco: City Lights, 1982).
__________. Marxism in the US: Remapping the History of the American Left [1987] (rev. ed. London: Verso, 1991).
__________. A Dreamer's Paradise Lost: Louis C. Fraina/Lewis Corey (1892-1953) & the Decline of Radicalism in the US (Atlantic Highlands NJ: Humanities, 1995).
__________ & Dan Georgakas (eds.) The Immigrant Left in the US (Albany: SUNY, 1996).
__________ & Edmund B. Sullivan. Images of American Radicalism (Hanover MA: Christopher, 1998).
__________ & Dave Wagner. A Very Dangerous Citizen: Abraham Lincoln Polonsky & the Hollywood Left (Berkeley: U. California, 2001).
__________ & Dave Wagner. Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story behind America's Favorite Movies (NY: New Press, 2002).
__________ & Mike Alewitz. Insurgent Images: The Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz (NY: Monthly Review, 2002).
Chernin, Kim. In My Mother's House (NY: Ticknor & Fields, 1983).
Cohen, Robert. When the Old Left Was Young: Student Radicals & America's First Mass Student Movement, 1929-1941 (NY: Oxford, 1993).
Coiner, Constance. Better Red: The Writing & Resistance of Tillie Olson & Meridel Le Sueur (NY: University Press, 1995).
Darnovsky, Marcy; Barbara Epstein & Richard Flacks (eds.) Cultural Politics & Social Movements (Philadelphia: Temple, 1995).
de Cleyre, Voltairine. The First Mayday: The Haymarket Speeches 1895-1910 (Minneapolis: Soil of Liberty, 1980)
Dollinger, Sol & Genora Johnson Dollinger. Not Automatic: Women & the Left in the Forging of the Auto Workers' Union (NY: Monthly Review, 199?).
Epstein, Barbara. Political Protest & Cultural Revolution: Nonviolent Direct Action in the 1970s & 80s (Berkeley: U. of California, 1991).
Fosl, Catherine. Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden & the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South (NY: St. Martin's, 2002).
Fujino, Diane C. Yuri Kochiyama: Heartbeat of Struggle (Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota, 2005).
Garrison, Dee (ed.) Rebel Pen: The Writings of Mary Heaton Vorse (NY: Monthly Review, 198?).
Gerassi, John. The Premature Antifascists:North American Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. An Oral History (NY: Praeger, 1986).
Ginger, Ray. The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers, 1949).
__________. Altgeld's America: The Lincoln Ideal vs. Changing Realities (NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1958).
Glickman, Toby. The New York Red Pages: A Radical Tourist's Guide (NY: Praeger, 1984).
Goldberg, Harvey (ed.) American Radicals: Some Problems & Personalities (NY: Monthly Review, 1957). Introduces John Jay Chapman, Theodore Dreiser, Heywood Broun, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Robert La Follette, John Brown, John Peter Altgeld, Vito Marcantonio, Eugene Debs, William Haywood, Daniel De Leon, Thorstein Veblen & Charles A. Beard with a discussion of the political barriers and repressions they faced.
Goldman, Emma. Living My Life (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931).
Gorn, Elliott J. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (NY: Hill & Wang, 2001).
Gottlieb, Roger S. (ed.) Radical Philosophy: Tradition, Counter-Tradition, Politics (Phildelphia: Temple U, 1993).
Guthrie, Woody. Bound for Glory [1943] (NY: New American Library, 1970).
Kann, Kenneth. Joe Rapaport: The Life of a Jewish Radical (Philadelphia: Temple, 1981).
__________. Comrades & Chicken Ranchers: The Story of a California Jewish Community (Ithaca: Cornell, 1993).
Kayton, Bruce. Radical Walking Tours of New York City (NY: Seven Stories, 1999).
Kelley, Robin D.G. Marxism in the US: Remapping the History of the American Left (London: Verso, 1987).
Lipsitz, George. A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry & the Culture of Opposition (Philadelphia: Temple, 1995).
Mattson, Kevin. Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left & Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970 (University Park: Pennsylvania State U, 2003).
Marzani, Carl. Dorothy Healey Remembers (NY: Oxford, 1990).
__________. The Education of a Reluctant Radical (NY: Topical, 1992).
__________. Growing up American: Book 2 of The Education of a Reluctant Radical (NY: Topical, 1993).
__________. Spain, Munich & Dying Empires: Book 3 of The Education of a Reluctant Radical (NY: Topical, 1994).
McGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise & Fall of Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (NY: Free Press, 2003)
Meyer, Gerald. Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician, 1902-1954 (Albany: State U. of NY, 1989).
Naison, Mark. Harlem During the Depression (NY: Grove, 1985).
Neier, Aryeh. Taking Liberties: Four Decades in the Struggle for Rights (NY: PublicAffairs, 2003).
Kraditor, Aileen S. The Radical Persuasion, 1890-1917: Aspects of the Intellectual History & the Historiography of Three American Radical Organizations (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U, 1981). Socialist Party, Socialist Labor Party & Industrial Workers of the World.
__________. "Jimmy Higgins": The Mental World of the American Rank-and-File Communist, 1930-1958 (NY: Greenwood, 1988).
Langer, Elinor. Josephine Herbst [1984] (Boston: Northeastern U, 1994).
Lipset, Seymour Martin & Gary Marks. It Didn;t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the US (NY: W.W. Norton, 2000).
Lynd, Staughton & Thomas Hayden. The Other Side (NY: New American Library, 1967).
__________. The Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism (NY: Pantheon, 1968).
__________ & Gar Alperovitz. Strategy & Program: Two Essays toward a New American Socialism (Boston: Beacon, 1973).
__________. Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement (Ithaca NY: ILR, 1997).
Madison, Charles A. Critics & Crusaders (NY: Henry Holt, 1948). Engaging capsule biographies of William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Wendell Phillips, Margaret Fuller, Albert Brisbane, Edward Bellamy, Henry David Thoreau, Benjamin R. Tucker, Emma Goldman, Henry George, Brooks Adams, Thorstein Veblen, John Peter Altgeld, Lincoln Steffens, Randolph Bourne, Daniel De Leon, Eugene Debs & John Reed. A fine introduction to the American radical tradition.
McGilligan, Patrick & Paul Buhle. Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist (NY: St. Martin's, 1997).
Menaker, Daniel. The Old Left: Stories (NY: Random House, 1987).
Morone, James. Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven: Yale, 2003). Engaging & informative though surprisingly ahistorical & secularist exploration of moral tradition in radicalism left & right.
Nelson, Cary. Manifesto of a Tenured Radical (NY: NYU, 1998).
Nies, Judith. Nine Women: Portraits from the American Radical Tradition (Berkeley: U. California, 2002).
Ottanelli, Fraser M. The Communist Party of the US from the Depression to World War II (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers, 1991).
Perry, Jeffrey B. (ed.) A Hubert Harrison Reader (Middletown CT: Wesleyan U., 2001). Socialist & later influential "New Negro" militant, theorist & writer of early 20th c., notable among other things for critiques of Washington, DuBois, Randolph & Garvey.
Randall, Margaret. Part of the Solution: Portrait of a Revolutionary (NY: New Directions, 1973).
Richmond, Al. Native Daughter: The Story of Anita Whitney (San Francisco, 1942).
__________. A Long View from the Left: Memoirs of an American Revolutionary (NY: Delta, 1975).
Roberts, Nora Ruth. Three Radical Women Writers: Class & Gender in Meridel LeSueur, Tillie Olsen & Josephine Herbst (NY: Garland, 1996).
Roediger, Dave & Franklin Rosemont (eds.) Haymarket Scrapbook (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1986).
Rosenstone, Robert. Romantic Revolutionary: A Biography of John Reed (NY, 1976).
Rubenstein, Annette T. Something to Guard: The Stormy Life of the National Guardian (NY: Columbia U., 1978).
Salvatore, Nick. Eugene V. Debs: Citizen & Socialist (Urbana: U. of Illinois, 1982).
Sayre, Nora. Previous Convictions: A Journey through the 1950s (New Burnswick, NJ: Rutgers, 1996)
Scales, Junius Irving. Cause at Heart: A Former Communist Remembers (Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 1987).
Schleuning, Neala. America, Song We Sang Without Knowing: The Life & Ideas of Meridel Le Seuer (Mankato MN: Little Red Hen, 1983).
Schrank, Robert. Wasn't That a Time? Growing Up Radical & Red in America (Cambridge MA: MIT, 1998).
Shannon, David A. The Socialist Party of America: A History (NY: Macmillan, 1955).
__________. The Decline of American Communism: A History of the Communist Party of the United States since 1945 (NY: Harcourt Brace, 1959).
Sibley, Mulford Q. The Obligation to Disobey: Conscience & the Law (NY: Council on Religion & International Affairs, 1970).
Sorin, Gerald. Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent (NY: NYU, 2003).
Thompson, Cooper; Emmett Schaefer & Harry Brod. White Men Challenging Racism: 35 Personal Stories (Durham NC: Duke, 2003). Inspiring & instructive stories of a wide variety of men working on many fronts over a long period of time, focusing on both accomplishments & shortcomings.
Topp, Michael M. The Sacco & Vanzetti Case: A Brief History with Documents (NY: Bedford St. Martin's, 2004).
Weinstein, James. The Decline of Socialism in America: 1912-1925 [1969] (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers, 1984).
_____________. The Long Detour (Boulder:Westview, 2003). A history of socialism in the US.
Weigand, Kate. Red Feminism: American Communism & the Making of Women’s Liberation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2003).
Wald, Alan. The New York Intellectuals, The Rise & Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left from the 1930s to the 1980s (Chapel Hill: U of Carolina, 1987): 49-60.
_________. The Responsibility of Intellectuals: Selected Essays on Marxist Traditions in Cultural Commitment (Atlantic Highlands NJ: Humanities, 1992).
Wiedemann, Barbara. Josephine Herbst's Short Fiction: A Window to Her Life & Times (Selinsgrove PA: Susquehanna U, 1998).
Wohlforth, Tim. The Prophet's Children: Travels on the American Truth (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities, 2003)
In the Library: Fiction
Ross, John. Murdered by Capitalism (NY: Nationbooks, 2004).
Smedley, Agnes. Daughter of Earth [1929] (Old Westbury NY: Feminist Press, 1973).
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"Bound for Glory" [1976], dir. Hal Ashby, 147m. In video stores. Biopic based on Woody Guthrie's autobiography.
"Reds" [1981], dir. Warren Beatty, 194m. In video stores.
"Running on Empty" [1988], dir. Sidney Lumet, 111m. Invideo stores.
"Sacco & Vanzetti" [1971], dir. Giuliano Montaldo, 120m.
"Sacco & Vanzetti" [2005], dir. Fabrizio Costa, 87m.
"Sacco & Vanzetti" [2006], dir. Peter Miller, 80m. From First Run Features.
"Seeing Red: Portraits of American Communists" [1983], dir. Jim Klein & Julia Reichert, 100m.