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The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame
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The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame
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Overview
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.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781568586816 |
---|---|
Publisher: | PublicAffairs |
Publication date: | 06/26/2012 |
Pages: | 512 |
Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d) |
Age Range: | 13 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
20th-century Timeline 11
The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century
Tom Johnson (1854-1911) 21
Robert M. La Follette Sr. (1855-1925) 24
Eugene Debs (1855-1926) 27
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) 32
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) 36
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 40
Florence Kelley (1859-1932) 44
John Dewey (1859-1952) 49
Victor Berger (1860-1929) 53
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) 56
Jane Addams (1860-1935) 59
Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936) 63
Hiram Johnson (1866-1945) 67
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) 70
William "Big Bill" Haywood (1869-1928) 74
Alice Hamilton (1869-1970) 77
Emma Goldman (1869-1940) 80
Lewis Hine (1874-1940) 83
Robert F. Wagner Sr. (1877-1953) 87
Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) 91
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) 95
Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) 100
John L. Lewis (1880-1969) 105
Helen Keller (1880-1968) 109
Frances Perkins (1880-1965) 113
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) 117
Rose Schneiderman (1882-1972) 120
Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) 124
Roger Baldwin (1884-1981) 128
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) 133
Norman Thomas (1884-1968) 138
A. J. Muste (1885-1967) 142
Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977) 146
Sidney Hillman (1887-1946) 150
Henry Wallace (1888-1965) 154
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) 160
Earl Warren (1891-1974) 165
Floyd Olson (1891-1936) 168
Dorothy Day (1897-1980) 172
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) 176
William O. Douglas (1898-1980) 181
Harry Bridges (1901-1990) 184
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) 188
Vito Marcantonio (1902-1954) 192
Virginia F. Durr (1903-1999) 196
Elk Baker (1903-1986) 200
Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904-1991) 205
Myles Horton (1905-1990) 210
Carey McWilliams (1905-1980) 215
William J. Brennan Jr. (1906-1997) 220
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) 224
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) 228
Walter Reuther (1907-1970) 232
I. F. Stone (1907-1989) 237
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) 241
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) 246
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) 250
Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) 254
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) 259
Harry Hay (1912-2002) 263
Studs Terkel (1912-2008) 267
David Brower (1912-2000) 271
Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) 275
Arthur Miller (1915-2005) 279
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) 284
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) 288
Barry Commoner (1917-) 293
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) 298
Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) 303
Pete Seeger (1919-) 307
Jerry Wurf (1919-1981) 312
Bella Abzug (1920-1998) 317
Betty Friedan (1921-2006) 320
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) 325
Rev. William Sloane Coffin (1924-2006) 328
Malcolm X (1925-1965) 332
Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) 337
Michael Harrington (1928-1989) 342
Rev. James Lawson (1928-) 347
Noam Chomsky (1928-) 352
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 357
Allard Lowenstein (1929-1980) 362
Harvey Milk (1930-1978) 367
Ted Kennedy (1932-2009) 372
Ralph Nader (1934-) 376
Gloria Steinem (1934-) 381
Bill Movers (1934-) 386
Bob Moses (1935-) 390
Tom Hayden (1939-) 394
John Lewis (1940-) 399
Joan Baez (1941-) 404
Bob Dylan (1941-) 407
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-) 412
Jesse Jackson (1941-) 416
Muhammad Ali (1942-) 421
Billie Jean King (1943-) 426
Paul Wellstone (1944-2002) 429
Bruce Springsteen (1949-) 433
Michael Moore (1954-) 438
Tony Kushner (1956-) 443
The 21st Century So Far 447
Bibliography 473
Permissions 497
About the Author 499
What People are Saying About This
Kirkus Reviews
“Crisp, 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 Kozol
“A 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 Piven“A great collection of gripping stories. A book you won’t want to put down.” Robert Kuttner“Peter 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] is the kind of guest that is made for stimulating talk!”
America Magazine: The National Catholic Weekly“Since the tabloid culture trivialized public virtue by the indiscriminate use of the termhero, it is refreshing when a publication gives an overused term like greatest a sharper definition. Nation Books has published The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, by Peter Dreier, a distinguished professor of politics at Occidental College. Greatness, for Mr. Dreier, describes those who make the United States ‘a more just, equal and democratic society.’” San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review“This invaluable compendium will be of interest to the general reader or scholar, closing with an outstanding bibliography. [An] outstanding reference book….” Andrew Tonkovich, OC Weekly’s Bookly Blog (Costa Mesa, CA)“[P]rovocatively fun. . . [T]he book is both predictably satisfying and also a discovery, with plenty of names new to this amateur Lefty history scholar—and 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 of these courageous and idealistic visionaries could not have come at a better time. . . . Dreier includes enough kernels of wisdom and insights in each piece to leave readers marveling at the legacy the 100 have left.” Ron Radish, PJ Media“So the reason I got the book — I know how publishers and their publicity departments work — is that Dreier asked them to mail it to me. Expecting me to take the bait and attack the book, he could then come up with a line for an ad: “The reactionary right-wing writer Ron Radosh hates this book, so you know it has to be good,” or something along those lines. So, indeed, I accept the challenge, and henceforth will make some serious observations about what Dreier has written.” Library Journal“[T]his book openly celebrates the people behind the progressive ideas and movements that have shaped the United States and its history and that [Dreier] believes have made it a more humane and inclusive place. . . . [Of] interest to people who enjoy reading history and are interested in those who made a real difference in American progressive life.” Jack Rothman, Professor Emeritus at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, writing for the Huffington Post“The array of personages covers varied ethnic identities and ideological leanings. The narratives are crisp and readable, reflecting Professor Dreier's earlier career as a journalist. . . . With so many right-wing and callous influences saturating our culture, the book serves as a wholesome antidote.” History Wire“[F]ew will deny that the progressive subjects chosen… have stepped up to the plate for a variety of noble causes far more than the average citizen. . . . Liberals will easily find people of like mind whatever their field of interest.” Frying Pan News.org“[N]ervy… A corrective to Greatest Generation blather, Dreier’s 100 profiles refract a century of progressive movements through the lives of leaders whose native radicalism helped push America toward a more humane vision of society.” ALA Booklist“Author Dreier has put his years of experience as a teacher, community organizer, government official, and journalist together to condense a century of astounding change and action into one volume. Hard decisions must have been made, but in the end, The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame brings together names and faces from every movement and every decade. . . . Overall, a solid, if broad, entry in an ever-topical field.”
John Atlas, Huffington Post Occupy Wall Street blog“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“[E]minently valuable…. an outstanding reference work that provides portraits of movement activists, exceptional legislators, dissident artists and prophetic voices from the era of Eugene Debs through the time of Tony Kushner….[D]eeply researched and highly readable.” John Atlas, Shelterforce“Dreier’s well-written and inspiring book belongs on the shelves of all social justice activists and would be a great gift for Americans, young and old, who need to be taught (or reminded) that, as Dreier writes, we all stand on the shoulders of the progressives and radicals who made America a more livable and humane society.”