political science / political freedom & security / civil rights

Examines turning points in American history and explores contemporary American politics and life.

"On the Other Side of Freedom reveals the mind and motivations of a young man who has risen to the fore of millennial activism through study, discipline, and conviction. His belief in a world that can be made better, one act at a time, powers his narratives and opens up a view on the costs, consequences, and rewards of leading a movement."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr. From the internationally recognized civil rights activist/organizer and host of the podcast Pod Save the People, a meditation on resistance, justice, and freedom, and an intimate portrait of a movement from the front lines. In August 2014, twenty-nine-year-old Mckesson stood with hundreds of others on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, to push a message of justice and accountability. These protests, and others like them in cities across the country, resulted in the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, in his first book, Mckesson lays out an incisive new framework for today's liberation movement. Continuing a conversation about activism, resistance, and justice that embraces our nation's complex history, he dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change. He argues that our best efforts to combat injustice have been stunted by the belief that racism's wounds are history, and suggests that intellectual purity has curtailed optimistic realism. The book offers a new framework and language for understanding the nature of oppression. With it, we can begin charting a course to dismantle the obvious and subtle structures that limit freedom. Honest, courageous, and imaginative, On the Other Side of Freedom is a work brimming with hope. Drawing from his own experiences as an activist, organizer, educator, and public official, Mckesson exhorts all Americans to work to dismantle the legacy of racism and to imagine the best of what is possible. Honoring the voices of a new generation of activists, On the Other Side of Freedom is a visionary's call to active citizenship, challenging us to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in"--.

Examines turning points in American history and explores contemporary American politics and life.

"[The author] offers a . . . history of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders--popularly known as the Kerner Commission. Convened by President Lyndon Johnson after riots in Newark and Detroit left dozens dead and thousands injured, the commission issued a report in 1968 that attributed the unrest to 'white racism' and called for aggressive new programs to end racism and poverty. 'Our nation is moving toward two societies,' they warned, 'one black, and one white--separate and unequal.' Fifty years later, [the author] draws on official records, never-before-seen private papers, and interviews with key players to offer an . . . account of the Kerner Commission's work and its . . . legacies"--Provided by publisher.

"Black Power burst onto the world scene in 1966 with ideas, politics, and fashion that opened the eyes of millions of people across the globe. In the United States, the movement spread like wildfire: high school and college youth organized black student unions; educators created black studies programs; Black Power conventions gathered thousands of people from all walks of life; and books, journals, bookstores, and publishing companies spread Black Power messages and imagery throughout the country and abroad. Black Power aesthetics of natural hair and African-inspired fashion, ornaments, and home decor--and the concept that black was beautiful--resonated throughout the country. The black arts movement inspired the creation of some eight hundred black theaters and cultural centers, where a generation of writers and artists forged a new and enduring cultural vision. Published in conjunction with a major 2016 exhibit at New York's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Black Power 50 includes original interviews with key figures from the movement, essays from today's leading Black Power scholars, and more than one hundred stunning images from the Schomburg's celebrated archives, offering a beautiful and compelling introduction to the history and meaning of this pivotal movement. "--.

"On the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, an...account of the continuing battle over Americans' right to vote"--Provided by publisher.

In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, this definitive account reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had to provide married gay couples all the benefits offered to straight couples. Jim Obergefell and John Hodges--who was dying from ALS--flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal. But back home, Ohio refused to recognize their union, or even list Jim's name on John's death certificate. Then they met Al Gerhardstein, a courageous attorney who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights and who now saw an opening for the cause that few others had before him.

" ... the ... story of Perry Wallace, a ... student and talented athlete who became the first African-American basketball player in the SEC at Vanderbilt University during the tumultuous late 1960s ... Places Wallace's struggles and ultimate success into the larger contexts of civil rights and race relations in the South"--Provided by publisher.

"... argues that when privacy and free speech truly conflict, free speech should almost always win, but contends that, contrary to conventional wisdom, speech and privacy are only rarely in conflict"--Provided by publisher.

"Anchored in personal stories...[Pulitizer Prize winner David K.] Shipler's investigations of the cultural limits on both expression and the willingness to listen build to expose troubling instabilities in the very foundations of our democracy...'Freedom of Speech' reveals the triumphs and challenges of defining and protecting the boundaries of freeexpression in modern America"--amazon.com.