nationbooksprojectofnation
large_book

Buy It Online
    Amazon >
    IndieBound.org >
    Powells.com >

American Rebels



Jack Newfield
January 2004     ISBN: 1560255439

The Americans celebrated in these pages can variously be described as visionaries, revolutionaries, radicals, liberals, nonconformists, outsiders, insurgents, prophets and pathfinders. They don't all fit under any one ideology or party. Most were too much free spirits to be categorized. They are part of a continuum of conviction and creation in our tangled national history. And they are all distinctively American.

Some like Walt Whitman, Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra are famous. Others are less well known but have earned a much broader appreciation; among them, Sam Fuller, Rachel Carson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Paul O'Dwyer and Mike Harrington. Still others are comparatively obscure--almost cult figures--revered by a small, intense following. In this category are Benjamin Mays, Father Mychal Judgek and Bill Hicks. Others have faded from memory like Margaret Sanger and Clarence Darrow, and deserve a new shaft of sunlight.

This book is a celebration of history, standards, individualism and an alternative America. It is a hymn to the bravery of rebels past, present and hopefully future.

What readers are saying

"Any one of these "American rebels" could easily have an entire book written about them (and many have, of course), but it's impressive how much these talented essayists can tell us in such a limited amount of space. A theme collection that really works."

--Booklist

About the Authors

Jack Newfield began his career in the 1960s as a columnist for the Village Voice. He did investigative reporting for the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Sun, and The Nation magazine. Newfield was the author of ten books and collaborated on numerous documentaries. He died on December 21, 2004.
signup

for our FREE e-mail newsletter, a monthly dispatch of events, excerpts, commentary by Nation Books and Nation Institute writers.



Clive Stafford Smith on PBS Documentary

October 16 - November 20 | PBS Affiliates
Watch Nation Books author Clive Stafford Smith in a new PBS documentary, Torturing Democracy. Stafford Smith is the author of Eight o' Clock Ferry to the Windward Side and founder of the legal charity, Reprieve, whose clients include prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

November 19 | 7 pm
Readings & Conversations: Jonathan Schell, Hamilton Fish
(The Lensic, Santa Fe)
Listen to Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Schell and Institute President Hamilton Fish in conversation at The Lensic, Santa Fe's Performing Arts Center, on Wednesday, November 19 at 7 p.m. MORE

November 23 | 10 am
Amy Alexander at Watergate Conference
(Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.)
Listen to Institute Fellow Amy Alexander talk with fellow panelists about how bloggers are changing politics. This event is part of the National Association of Black Journalists' Watergate Conference on Political and Congressional Reporting: Did Politics Change the Media or Did Media Change Politics? MORE

December 7 | 4 pm
Gary Younge Pays Tribute to Studs Terkel
(Great Hall, Cooper Union, NYC)
Institute Fellow Gary Younge will be one of the luminaries paying tribute to the life of legendary oral historian and activist Studs Terkel, who died on October 31 at the age of 96. The event will be open to the public and free of charge. MORE

December 8
The Nation Institute Annual Dinner Gala
(Metropolitan Pavilion, NYC)
The Nation Institute's Annual Gala Dinner is Monday, December 8 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. Special guests include Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood; comedian Lewis Black; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation. MORE

January 15 | 8:30 am
Deepa Fernandes Wins North Star News Prize
(4 Times Square, NYC)
Institute Fellow Deepa Fernandes is one of three winners of the North Star News Prize, which recognizes people of color who have made outstanding contributions to journalism, media and communications, and public understanding of the struggle for social justice. MORE