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Title: Disobedience and Democracy : Nine Fallacies on Law and Order by Howard Zinn ISBN: 0-89608-675-5 Publisher: South End Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Zinn does it again
Comment: I've read books by Howard Zinn before and I have always been enticed by his writings. He writes a powerful message in a simple way to understand. In this book, Zinn taught me a lot about Disobedience and Democracy; not only what it is, but what it isn't as well. He broke it all down into nine subtopics, and managed to elaborate well on all of it. He shows such an abundance of knowledge and truth and all that he writes. I like the fact that he can tell us what Disobedience and Democracy should be, but what it has been instead. He does this by showing us many instances in history when disobedience has been used to achieve democracy. Though I've learned a lot from Howard Zinn in this book, I feel like all the information in the book was completely overwhelming. This book shows a lot of little lessons and history to get the big picture, and by doing so, I feel like I've read much more than necessary to understand his point. However, I think it's better to read more than what you need to know on a topic then less. Overall, I was very pleased with this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Reality of "Democracy"
Comment: put aside the warm, fuzzy portraits of Office Friendly and harken back to a not too distant past, Chicago 1968, Kent State, 1970, the union strikes of the 1930s, the Bonus Army, the Poor People's March on Washington, World Bank protestors in Seattle and Washington, DC and a more realistic image of red faced and angry cops swinging night sticks, spraying pepper spray, chasing protestors, and really doing their jobs--protecting the status quo and the machinery of state.
Based on Zinn's literary challenge to Supreme Court Justie Abe Fortas's "Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience," the author outlines nine fallacies where democracy fails and the iron fist of the state becomes a reality. Each one is punctuated with lucid commentary, historical examples clearly demonstrating where Justice Fortas only supports civil disobedience and dissent on his terms within the parameters established by the government.
Zinn points out throughout his analysis of the nine fallacies how creative the left could be with "CD" and how it serves as a safety valve for crisis much worse than disrupted traffic or blocking doors.
The details are important, the arguments flush with a fresh attitude of what has become a sometime tiresome left-wing ritual of march, demonstrations and planned CDs.
Part of what plagues the American people from organizing against the government's violence at home and abroad is a misplaced faith in institutions, particularly the courts, which are supposed to offer relief against injustice. If we placed as much energy and resources into our own efforts as we do the courts and the electoral process, the politicians might not feel so free to plague the American people with as much oppression and tyranny as they do.
Zinn's small but powerful work dissaudes the reader from any faith that the judiciary,the electoral process or any other mechanism established by government can solve the systemic problems facing the nation and the world, the world being as much a victim of American terrorism as the American people.
Zinn's work is a must read for a clear, convincing, well documented and thought-provoking perspective into the American system not, as Rush Limbaugh styles it, "The Way Things Ought to Be" but the way they really are.
Rating: 4
Summary: revolution on a small scale
Comment: I picked this title up at a local used bookstore and decided to give it a look and see how it stood up to the current political climate. It seemed very relevant in spite of its age.
First of all, this essay - 'Disobedience and Democracy; Nine Fallacies on Law and Order' - is a direct response to a position against civil disobedience given by Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas entitled 'Concerning dissent and civil disobedience'. Both were written in 1968 amidst considerable political turmoil on the issues of the Vietnam War and civil rights. I wish that I'd had a copy of Fortas' essay to refer to while reading Zinn's response, but instead I was left to take Zinn's interpretation of Fortas' document 'as gospel'. My other concern was that I was so far removed (over 30 years) from the atmosphere that ignited this asynchronous debate. In spite of these hurdles (which are the main reasons that the rating is reduced to 4 stars), I thoroughly enjoyed this short book/outlook.
Justice Fortas seems to advocate near blind obedience to the law (NOT for moral reasons, but for purely institutional integrity). Zinn exposes this to be counter to the revolutionary spirit which preempted the Constitution, as well as logically perverse to the idea of justice. At one point, Fortas apparently questions the value of Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience' which was instrumental in the advocacy of the abolitionist ideals of the time. Zinn gives him a thorough beating.
The idea of civil disobedience was so paramount to the growth of America in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and civil rights periods. It is necessary to prevent the stagnation of public policy, and to keep the law in tune with the people under it. Zinn does an excellent job of renewing my interest in this form of revolution with this book, and I heartily recommend it to those who may see the value of this American tradition in responding to the brewing conflicts of today - such as the death penalty, affirmative action, etc.
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Title: Justice in Everyday Life : The Way It Really Works by Howard Zinn ISBN: 0896086771 Publisher: South End Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Talking About a Revolution: Interviews With Michael Albert, Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bell Hooks, Peter Kwong, Winona Laduke, Manning Marable, Urvashi Vaid, and Howard by South End Press Collective, South End Press, Howard Zinn, Bell Hooks ISBN: 0896085872 Publisher: South End Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Howard Zinn on History by Howard Zinn ISBN: 1583220488 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: 30 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train : A Personal History of Our Times by Howard Zinn ISBN: 0807071277 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 05 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title:Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror? ASIN: B00008AOW1 Publisher: Koch Vision Entertai Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $7.98 |
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