White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives

Amazon.com

It has been said that the Indian captivity narrative, in which kidnapped or captured colonials reported the hardships of imprisonment at the hands of native people, is the first truly American literary genre. In White Slaves, African Masters, historian Paul Baepler shows that this genre had a precursor in the so-called Barbary captivity narrative, in which some unlucky European (or, later, American) describes life as a slave of the Algerian and Moroccan pashas, rulers of the Barbary Coast. Such narratives form part of Cervantes's Don Quixote and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe; they also make up a large canon of literary, historical, and autobiographical works that are scarcely known today, even among historians. Yet in their time, these writings were widely circulated. Cotton Mather, the famed New England cleric, used several of them to denounce the Muslims of North Africa, proclaiming from the pulpit that being their prisoner was "the most horrible captivity in the world," and Benjamin Franklin drew on Barbary captivity narratives to decry the slave trade of the Southern United States.

In this one-of-a-kind anthology, Baepler gathers several noteworthy examples from American sources, beginning with Cotton Mather's sermons, continuing through post-Revolutionary War writings, such as Jonathan Cowdery's "American Captives in Tripoli" (whose daring rescue by U.S. marines provided us with the phrase "the shores of Tripoli"), and ending with a bogus narrative by one Eliza Bradley, whose 1820 memoir went into 13 U.S. editions. The narratives, Baepler reminds us, point to the long pattern of mutual misunderstanding that has prevailed between the United States and the Muslim world. Read as history and literature, these narratives also help illuminate a dark corner of the past. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Some of the most popular stories in nineteenth-century America were sensational tales of whites captured and enslaved in North Africa. White Slaves, African Masters for the first time gathers together a selection of these Barbary captivity narratives, which significantly influenced early American attitudes toward race, slavery, and nationalism.

Though Barbary privateers began to seize North American colonists as early as 1625, Barbary captivity narratives did not begin to flourish until after the American Revolution. During these years, stories of Barbary captivity forced the U.S. government to pay humiliating tributes to African rulers, stimulated the drive to create the U.S. Navy, and brought on America's first post-revolutionary war. These tales also were used both to justify and to vilify slavery.

The accounts collected here range from the 1798 tale of John Foss, who was ransomed by Thomas Jefferson's administration for tribute totaling a sixth of the annual federal budget, to the story of Ion Perdicaris, whose (probably staged) abduction in Tangier in 1904 prompted Theodore Roosevelt to send warships to Morocco and inspired the 1975 film The Wind and the Lion. Also included is the unusual story of Robert Adams, a light-skinned African American who was abducted by Arabs and used by them to hunt negro slaves; captured by black villagers who presumed he was white; then was sold back to a group of Arabs, from whom he was ransomed by a British diplomat.

Long out of print and never before anthologized, these fascinating tales open an entirely new chapter of early American literary history, and shed new light on the more familiar genres of Indian captivity narrative and American slave narrative.

"Baepler has done American literary and cultural historians a service by collecting these long-out-of-print Barbary captivity narratives . . . . Baepler's excellent introduction and full bibliography of primary and secondary sources greatly enhance our knowledge of this fascinating genre."—Library Journal

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Historical Additions.......2006-04-16

A hard one to rate. The stories vary from well done to poorly crafted. Some are fictional, some truthful, and some fictional but pretend to be truthful. There oldest story is 3 centuries earlier than the most recent- and thus the stories represent a very varied style of writings. But the editor is up front with all of this, and most preemininetly, it is the editor who should be judged in this case.

I do not find him wanting. He has brought together a very unique collection that needs greater public scrutiny. It is intriguing to see all the ways the myth of slavery by whites alone is exploded. While the evils of slavery under whites in America are great indeed, so is all slavery, in all times, and this is shown very clearly in this collection. It is horrible to hear the events in these stories, and to contemplate how much more horrible are the stories of those who never got a chance to speak, for they were in slavery throughout their lives. Of little better joy are those who apostocized to Islam simply to avoid the horrors of slavery, exposing another interreligious myth.

It would be nice to have more detail on how reliable these stories are. Although there is a long introduction in the beginning, it doesn't fully give us the information we need to judge the authenticity of these narratives. For instance, it seems very likely that the story of Adams was at least in part manufactured, as the animals he describes do not exist or else do not act in the manner that he ascribes to them. But the editor only mentions that another author has shown with a great deal of evidence that Adams' story has veracity, and then we never hear what that evidence is. Also, it would be more helpful if Cotton Mathers sermon were updated. Frankly, the language has changed so much in 300 years, that a partial translation is in order. I found myself skimming over this first installment as I could not understand a lot of the language from the turn of the 18th century.

Small detractions. I would heartedly recommend this work. The stories are enthralling, and it is helpful to understand the history that went into the end of the Islamic Slavery Era, as well as the events around the first American war, the War with Tripoli/Tunisia. Just be sure to remember that not all events in the stories can be considered verifiable, and there may be some exaggerations by the storytellers who saw the world in stark Western-Islamic terms, with the "evil Musselman" and the "good Christian".

Captivated by captivity narratives.......1999-12-06

While reading Baepler's book WHITE SLAVES, AFRICAN MASTERS I kept asking myself, Why didn't I know about this fascinating part of American and world history before? While I found the men's stories to be captivating, I was especially enthralled with the stories of women captives such as Eliza Bradley and Maria Martin. The stories kept me wanting to read more...wanting to know what would happen next. I think some of these captivity narratives would make a great movie or TV mini-series! I'm recommending the book to friends who are history buffs and others who just want a good read.

Dishonest Description of Robert Adams.......1999-10-14

Baepler puts the label "African American" or "black" on Robert Adams. Yet, Adams is described as white in the narrative and in the drawing that accompanies it. By what standards does Baepler eliminate Adams' predominate European ancestry and proclaim him "black"? He is trying to create an "African American" where none existed.

The North Carolina Roots of African American Literature: An Anthology

Average customer rating:

The North Carolina Roots of African American Literature: An Anthology

Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0807856657
Release Date: 2006-02-08

Book Description

The first African American to publish a book in the South, the author of the first female slave narrative in the United States, the father of black nationalism in America--these and other founders of African American literature have a surprising connection to one another: they all hailed from the state of North Carolina.

This collection of poetry, fiction, autobiography, and essays showcases some of the best work of eight influential African American writers from North Carolina during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his introduction, William L. Andrews explores the reasons why black North Carolinians made such a disproportionate contribution (in quantity and lasting quality) to African American literature as compared to what other southern states with larger African American populations produced. The authors in this anthology parlayed both the advantages and disadvantages of their North Carolina beginnings into sophisticated perspectives on the best and the worst of which humanity, in the South and the North, was capable. They created an African American literary tradition unrivaled by that of any other state in the South.

Book Description

Between 1760 and 1902, more than 200 book-length autobiographies of ex-slaves were published; together they form the basis for all subsequent African American literature. I Was Born a Slave collects the 20 most significant “slave narratives.” They describe whippings, torture, starvation, resistance, and hairbreadth escapes; slave auctions, kidnappings, and murders; sexual abuse, religious confusion, the struggle of learning to read and write; and the triumphs and difficulties of life as free men and women. Many of the narratives—such as those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs—have achieved reputations as masterpieces; but some of the lesser-known narratives are equally brilliant. This unprecedented anthology presents them unabridged, providing each one with helpful introductions and annotations, to form the most comprehensive volume ever assembled on the lives and writings of the slaves.

Volume One (1770-1849) includes the narratives of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa), William Grimes, Nat Turner, Charles Ball, Moses Roper, Frederick Douglass, Lewis & Milton Clarke, William Wells Brown, and Josiah Henson.

Customer Reviews:

Powerful memoirs, well-chosen and well-organized.......1999-09-05

This is a superb book, bringing forward the startling testimony of 20 former slaves about the terms of their captivity. These narratives are both literary and true, and 200 million people should read them.

African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology [3 volumes]

Average customer rating:

African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology [3 volumes]

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Slavery & Emancipation | World | History | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

History | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0313311684

Book Description

African American slave narratives of the 19th century recorded the atrocities of the antebellum South and provided a solid foundation for the African American literary tradition. By presenting 16 slave narratives in their entirety, this reference conveniently documents this historically significant literary genre. A vivid and moving history of African Americans seeking to establish community, liberty, economic independence, and education within the constraints of a repressive society. This reference intentionally avoids well-known narratives and instead collects unavailable and otherwise difficult-to-find texts. To add to the value of the work for researchers and general readers alike, each narrative is accompanied by a preface, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. Many of the narratives gathered here were influential when initially published; Josiah Henson's presentation of himself, for example, embodies many of the characteristics given to Uncle Tom by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. While other collections often only provide excerpts from widely available texts, this reference includes complete narratives. The introductions and annotations redefine current thinking in the field by closely examining how these authors used language, structured their writing, and crafted their autobiographies. By examining the historical, cultural, literary, and social issues that African Americans have faced since their arrival, this reference provides the broad context necessary to understand the literary, historical, and intellectual traditions from which these writings developed.

The Civitas Anthology of African American Slave Narratives

Average customer rating:

Should Be Required Reading!
A superlative anthology, but ...

The Civitas Anthology of African American Slave Narratives

Manufacturer: Civitas Book Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Slavery & Emancipation | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

More than 500 years of history are brought to life in this illustrated encyclopedia, whose panoramic scope offers a vivid, definitive chronology of the African-American experience.

Black Saga is a remarkably comprehensive reference book that highlights the key issues and accomplishments of African Americans from the late fifteenth century through the present. The people, places, and events that created black America are presented in brief entries arranged in chronological order. Sidebar articles interspersed throughout the text analyze the demographic, social, economic, and political conditions that affected blacks-calling particular attention to the efforts of African Americans to win freedom, respect, and improved prospects for a promising future in a country that often took the most extreme measures to deny them basic rights.

The four-century trajectory of Black Saga is punctuated with the accomplishments of famous figures and unsung heroes: the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, the music of William Still, the industrial inventions of Jan Matzeliger, the business acumen of Madame C. J. Walker, the sensational plays and home runs of Jackie Robinson, the political skills and power of Adam Clayton Powell, and the movies of Spike Lee.

Practical and attractive, Black Saga is a great sourcebook for students from high school through college, and a valuable addition to any home reference library. The book includes more than 230 illustrations-many of them rare.

Customer Reviews:

Should Be Required Reading!.......1999-08-17

Powerful narratives from those who survived slavery detailing their struggles as slaves, struggles for freedom, and beginnings of establishing new lives. This book should be required reading for all high school students. Insights into human nature, perserverance, and love are all touched upon and I could not believe the strengths of these slaves just getting through life. Powerful beyond any reviewers' words.

A superlative anthology, but ..........1999-01-22

For a more complete collection of slave narratives, check out I WAS BORN A SLAVE, edited by Yuval Taylor. For the price of this volume, you get two paperback volumes with a total of twenty narratives: six of these seven, plus fourteen more, most of them unavailable elsewhere. Unlike this book, it is also extensively annotated.

Average customer rating:

A must-read for those interested in narrative or slavery

The Slave's Narrative

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Slave Narratives (Library of America)

ASIN: 0195032764

Book Description

These autobiographies of Afro-American ex-slaves comprise the largest body of literature produced by slaves in human history. The book consists of three sections: selected reviews of slave narratives, dating from 1750 to 1861; essays examining how such narratives serve as historical material; and essays exploring the narratives as literary artifacts.

Customer Reviews:

A must-read for those interested in narrative or slavery.......1999-01-04

Students of slavery or the narrative form will find this book invaluable. This is a unique collection of essays concerning various aspects of slave narratives. Essays consider difficult questions, such as textual authenticity, in terms of whether texts were written by ex-slaves or abolitionists; fictional and nonfictional elements in slave narratives; and dialect usage.

Book Description

This book skillfully examines the many literary devices utilized by the first black writers as they related their slave experiences and fashioned for their own use such literary techniques as the jeremiad sermonic form, the trustworthy omniscient narrator, the picaresque character, the Biblical typological hero, the strong speaking voice, and the quest for physical and spiritual freedoms. The primary object of study is Olaudah Equiano's brilliant autobiography, which served as a prototype for later slave narratives, and thus provided a background for the development of a literary pattern followed by succeeding generations of American black writers. The autobiographical form as used by the eighteenth-century black writers is explored as a reflection of black perceptions of Western culture, and their attempt to enter the literary world.

African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology, Volume III

Average customer rating:

African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology, Volume III
Sterling Lecater Bland
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTPKVG

Average customer rating:

The Civitas Anthology of African American Slave Narratives

Manufacturer: Civitas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HK8HBW

Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Average customer rating:

Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Manufacturer: Chelsea House Pub (L)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Demography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Literary Criticism & Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1555460143

Book Description

Scott Nearing lived one hundred years, from 1883 to 1983—a life spanning most of the twentieth century. In his early years, Nearing made his name as a formidable opponent of child labor and military imperialism. Having been fired from university jobs for his independence of mind, Nearing became a freelance lecturer and writer, traveling widely through Depression-era and post-war America to speak with eager audiences. Five-time Socialist candidate for president Eugene V. Debs said, "Scott Nearing! He is the greatest teacher in the United States."
Concluding that it would be better to be poor in the country than in New York City, Scott and Helen Nearing moved north to Vermont in 1932 and commenced the experiment in self-reliant living that would extend their fame far and wide. They began to grow most of their own food, and devised their famous scheme for allocating the day's hours: one third for "bread work" (livelihood), one third for "head work" (intellectual endeavors), and one third for "service to the world community." Scott (who'd grown up partly on his grandfather's Pennsylvania farm) taught Helen (who was raised in suburbia, groomed for a career as a classical violinist) the practical skills they would need: working with tools, cultivating a garden and managing a woodlot, and building stone and masonry walls.
For the rest of their lives, the Nearings chronicled in detail their "good life," first in Vermont and ultimately on the coast of Maine, in a group of wonderful books—many of which are now being returned to print by Chelsea Green in cooperation with the Good Life Center, an educational trust established at the Nearings' Forest Farm in Harborside, Maine, to promote their ongoing legacy.
With a new foreword by activist historian Staughton Lynd, The Making of a Radical is freshly republished-Scott Nearing's own story, told as only he could tell it.

Customer Reviews:

An Eye-Opener.......2004-10-22

This book gives a person an idea about how the controlling forces in America will supress someone that tries to help the lower classes.

In Nearing's early career he spoke out about child labor, and was hated on by the controlling forces at that time. Only time would tell how right he was. Yet he spent his entire career being shunned away from the universities which he wished to teach at, just because he would not shut up when he cared about something.

The greatest part of this book, to me, was that Nearing talks about "avoiding wealth" and "narrowly avoiding getting rich"... as if it is a disease or something. He never aspired to become rich, in fact he purposely stopped anything of the sort from happening.

Nearing sets an excellent example of someone that tries to help out, never gives up, and cannot be silenced. When he turned 100 he stopped eating and CHOSE to die, believing that he had lived a full life and did not deserve any more of the earth's resources.

Now, if that doesn't make you think, what does.

Trying to live life as it is..........2002-06-30

Each human being's life is itself of great value and meaning.
And so, life should be lived just as life itself, not as a means for other doctrines or propaganda. No one is expendable.
The author also gives a sharp insight into monetary economy in which we live in. Day after day we are getting subject to the Lord of Money, and money becomes our Lord.
So parodoxically, the more money one make, the more subject to money we get.That's absurd.
This book shares much in common with 'To have or To Be' by Erich Fromm.
The author is a real humanist, who wanted every living being live the life as it deserves. Not being deceived by the illusions that we meet in our daily lives.
I really want to recommend this book to all those who looks upon all living beings as a united One, each not a separate pieces of life against life.

The Great Humanist, Scott Nearing.......2000-10-16

Many people try to live keeping their conviction. However it is difficult to keep it and it is even not easy to have a right conviction. Scott Nearing was the sociologist who practiced the right things that he believed and lived all his life as a naturalist. He lived for true convictions. After reading this book, I reflected my past. At least I think, it could be fortunate to have a opportunity to think of our spiritual slackening in the midst of material prosperity. I recommend this autobiography.

Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Volume Two: Making Speech Free, 1902-1909 (Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years)

Average customer rating:

Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Volume Two: Making Speech Free, 1902-1909 (Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years)
Emma Goldman
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Love, Anarchy, and Emma Goldman

ASIN: 0520225694

Book Description

Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years redefines the historical memory of Emma Goldman and illuminates a forgotten yet influential facet in the history of American and European radicalism. This definitive multivolume work, which differs significantly from Goldman's autobiography, presents original texts--a significant group of which are published or translated into English for the first time--anchored by rigorous contextual annotations. The distillation of years of scholarly research, these volumes include personal correspondence, newspaper articles, government surveillance reports from America and Europe, dramatic court transcripts, lecture notes, and previously unpublished documents retrieved from obscurity. Biographical, newspaper, and organizational appendices are complemented by in-depth chronologies that underscore the complexity of Goldman's political and social milieu.
Making Speech Free, 1902-1909, the second volume in the series, chronicles Goldman's pivotal role in the early battle for free expression. It highlights the relationship between the development of the right of free speech and turn-of-the-century anarchist ideas. The enactment of anti-anarchist laws and the organization of groups in protest occupy center stage among the primary documents. Within this frame, the volume presents Goldman's evolving attitudes toward violence in both its European and American contexts, the emergent revolution in Russia, and the beginnings of the Modern School education movement in America, the social significance of European modern drama, and the right of labor to organize against unfair working conditions in the United States. The volume features the early evolution of Goldman's magazine, Mother Earth, launched in 1906, which promoted a blending of modern literary and cultural ideas into her radical and social political agenda and became a platform for the articulation of her feminist critique, an expression of her international reach, and a marker of her desire to spread anarchist ideas outside the immigrant left. Making Speech Free also tracks Goldman's emergence as a writer and orator whose scathing critique of hypocrisy in all realms of life and politics would eventually capture the attention and imagination of America.

Fadlallah: The Making of a Radical Shi'ite Leader

Average customer rating:

Excellent biography
Informative

Fadlallah: The Making of a Radical Shi'ite Leader
Jamal Sankari
Manufacturer: Saqi Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Activism | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Islam | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Islamic | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0863565964
Release Date: 2005-07-14

Book Description

This unique book traces the trajectory of the most prominent figure of modern Islam - from his early intellectual development through his scholastic and political career - against a background of cultural, political and economic upheaval in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.Demonized by the West, and denounced by Muslim conservatives for his 'moderation' and 'innovation' Sayyid Fadlallah was one of the first Islamic figures to condemn the events of 9/11, while at the same time criticising America's role in the Middle East. Fadlallah is regarded by many as the spiritual leader of the Islamist party Hizbollah, which is still classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States though it has become more mainstream of late, sponsoring social programs for the poor and banning terrorist tactics. It's clear that Fadlallah's emergence as one of the world's pre-eminent Islamists would have taken place despite, rather than because of his affinity with Hizbollah. He remains one of the great advocators of dialogue across the Arab and Muslim world and has many followers and emulators.Here, for the first time, we are given an insight into the enigmatic, multi-faceted, sometimes contradictory personality of this extraordinary Shi'i leader.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent biography .......2007-09-19

Very well written! This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in Lebanese politics and indeed Islamic politics.

Informative.......2005-12-08

This biography is very informative. The tone is calm and scholarly, the author does not get into any of the extremist debates about Islam.

As a whole, the biography is sympathetic to Fadlallah, and reading it gives a good picture of his view of the world. This book will be appreciated by those who want to know more about the politics of the Middle East in the era leading up to the current war. But it is very much a work of political history - there is little information on private life and culture - I did think that the author could have written more about that.

Scott Nearing: The Making of a Homesteader (The Good Life Series)

Average customer rating:

Fills in the gaps
A Wonderful Inroduction To An Unknown Giant of A Man!
Best back-to-Nature bio

Scott Nearing: The Making of a Homesteader (The Good Life Series)
John A. Saltmarsh
Manufacturer: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Reference & Collections | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Renewable Energy | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

Environmentalism | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1890132217

Customer Reviews:

Fills in the gaps.......2003-09-10

This book is a political biography of Scott Nearing, focusing on his life before his homesteading experience in Vermont. The research and degree of detail that Saltmarsh presents are extensive. In order to allow understanding of the context of Nearing's times, Saltmarsh describes many of Nearing's contemporaries, and goes into great detail about many of the controversies that Nearing stirred up. Original sources are cited in the extensive end notes. The book also includes a few black and white photographs covering Nearing's entire life, a Nearing bibliography, and the list of sources that Saltmarsh used in preparing the book.

When I first read Nearing's Living the Good Life, I wondered long and hard about who this Nearing was, and what was his motivation for undertaking such a project. I wasn't sure how to relate to authors who had abandoned an undescribed life in New York City to live in rural Vermont, and when they mentioned that they wrote books for cash, I wondered what kinds of books they wrote- -travel books perhaps? After reading Saltmarsh's biography of Nearing, it made much more sense. Saltmarsh describes what a well known political figure Nearing was, how he was fired from university positions for preaching against child labor and being a peace activist in a time of war. Saltmarsh goes on to describe how Nearing ended up in the Communist party, and then was thrown out for being an independent thinker. This is one of the strongest themes that permeates the book- -how Nearing developed and followed through on his economic and political ideas independently, all with a deep religious basis. With these facts in mind, Nearing's later work becomes even more sensible.

One striking aspect of Nearing's early life as a radical was how much freedom of speech and academic freedom on campuses has changed since the time when he was dismissed, perhaps in part due to the battles that he lost. True, we still don't have perfect freedom of speech, but conditions are a lot better now than when Nearing became the American first university professor to lose his job because of his political activity. Looking back, would someone like Chomsky have been able to be so outspoken against the Vietnam War if Nearing hadn't fought his battles for free speech during the First World War?

One sad aspect about Nearing's life that comes through in this book is his inability to listen to his own children. Years ago, I read the book Behind the Urals by John Scott, having no idea that John Scott was actually Nearing's son. In Behind the Urals, John Scott describes how he went off to the Soviet Union in the 1930's as an energetic idealist, and how he gradually came to view the Soviet Union in a much different light. In this book, Saltmarsh tells us that Nearing would never accept Scott's criticisms of the Soviet Union. Despite John Scott's 10 years of personal experience in the country, Scott Nearing always thought he knew better. Was this inability to listen to others a general characteristic of Nearing, or did it only apply to his children? Saltmarsh leaves this question respectfully open.

A Wonderful Inroduction To An Unknown Giant of A Man!.......2000-07-03

What does one say about a book that details the life and thoughts of a man who was one of the last of a breed of lions? That this is a wonderful biography, full of fresh impressions of a man who typified what the word "character" means. These days we have plenty of celebrities who are characters, but Scott Nearing had character. Scott Nearing was that rare and precious kind of man who actually stood by what he believed in, making his actions consistent with his beliefs, and doing so paid a terrible price for shouting against the insanity of the 20th century. Were we ever to look for good models to socialize our young with, Scott Nearing would be at the head of the line, standing shoulder to shoulder with other better known men like Gandhi, as wonderful models of what meaningful adulthood can look like.

I first learned about Scott and Helen Nearing in the late 1960s from a friend who was interested in learning more about the back-to-the-land movement of subsistence farming. Like many of the other baby boomers infatuated with anything different and unusual, I quickly steeped myself in the lore of the Nearings. What I found has long since fascinated and amazed me. Scott Nearing was an idealistic and outspoken reformer teaching at the University of Pennsylvania before the First World War who was suddenly removed from his position because of his strong and public opposition to the shames of child labor. His long and tortured personal odyssey from the moment of that removal seemed destined to cast him further and further from the center of the political firestorm raging in this country and closer and closer to nature and an alternative lifestyle. Finally by the early 1930s, in the midst of the Depression, he and his young wife Helen arrived in rural Vermont to buy a ramshackle old farm and attempt to live a more deliberative, purposeful, and balanced lifestyle that was consistent with their philosophy and social politics.

This is a well-written, accessible and eminently readable book by an academic who has done all of his homework. From interviews not only with Nearing late in his life, but also with many other contacts with everyone from his wife Helen to his sons from his first marriage to a staggering list of luminaries who knew Nearing and his work, Mr. Saltmarsh weaves a substantial and comforting country quilt of a portrait of a man who lived a life of principle with integrity, good humor, and compassion. Scott Nearing stands as a modern American icon from whom we can all learn a better and more satisfying way to approach our own lives and our won personal responsibilities to the wider community surrounding us. This is an absorbing and worthwhile boo, and one many of your friends would come to treasure after being introduced to this Spencer Tracy look-alike who so influenced a whole generation of younger Americans now living the 'good life'. Enjoy.

Best back-to-Nature bio.......1998-11-05

Reminds me of Scott's widows book which should be read first.It covers their life,even how he chose to die...a form of self-immolation.Saltmarsh has given some new front matter to his title,first published almost 10 years ago...with a quote from Alan Ginsberg..l line accurate portrayal of S.N.,I visited Forest farm after Woodstock.

Average customer rating:

How much beautiful his life is!

The Making of a Radical
Scott Nearing
Manufacturer: Green Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0614304679

Customer Reviews:

How much beautiful his life is!.......2000-07-17

I received this book as a gift from my friend, and I almost burst into tears. I have forgotten to buy it for a while!

It is very hard to meet the person who makes righteous theories and practice them himself. We have had to see people who have wonderful theories and can't put theirs into their life. Here he is! The first, he made it. The second, whenever he got in touble, he managed to have it out with his own conscience, outstanding view over the world, and cool self-control, and wisdom. The third, he was pure mind and soul for his goal. So he could walk forward to his own world and have room for looking around his neighbors. The last, he conquered a mount of ambition, honor, and wealth..overflowing in his life. I know it is the most difficult to do on earth. I am very happy to meet one of sincere and true teachers. The book made me look back on my past and think over preparing my future. How can I find the words for him and his wife!

Average customer rating:
Making of a Radical: A Political Autobiography.
Scott Nearing
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M40ANG

Average customer rating:
Making of a Radical: A Political Autobiography.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICQ99G

Book Description

Martin O'Boy's life is not easy. His beloved Granny has just died, his pregnant mother and father fight all the time, and his twin, Phil, is completely incapacitated. For Martin, however, life in Ottawa's Lowertown is not all bad: there's his best friend, Billy Batson, the movies, his one-eared cat Cheap, and then there's Buz, his glamorous next door neighbor, who's off at the war. As the war comes to an end with the bombing of Hiroshima, Ottawa is in a state of turmoil - returning soldiers, parties, fights, and drunks fill the streets. All very exciting, except for one thing: Martin and Billy joined the church choir to earn some money, and the organist, Mr. T. D. S. George, is very interested in Martin. As the reader knows, though Martin doesn't, this interest is a very dangerous thing. But Martin has a pure soul, Billy's friendship, his cat's affection, Buz's imminent return, and his Granny's love - which all help him to deliver justice to Mr. George and heal himself and others. Boy O'Boy is a sensitively written story of a young boy's triumph over sexual abuse.

The Motor Boys in Ottawa: A Novel (Hood, Hugh. New Age, Pt. 6.)

Average customer rating:

The Motor Boys in Ottawa: A Novel (Hood, Hugh. New Age, Pt. 6.)
Hugh Hood
Manufacturer: Stoddart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0773750800

Average customer rating:

Ottawa Boy
Lloyd Francis
Manufacturer: General Store Pub. House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Congresses, Senates, & Legislative Bodies | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Ontario | Regional Canada | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1894263308

Boyce of Ottawa ;: Items on grand account; William D. Boyce, 1858-1929

Average customer rating:

Boyce of Ottawa ;: Items on grand account; William D. Boyce, 1858-1929
John F Sullivan
Manufacturer: Sigma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006WHR58

Average customer rating:

Boyce of Ottawa: "items on grand account" : William D. Boyce, 1858-1929
Walter F Conley
Manufacturer: John F. Sullivan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000729MLE

The life history of Alfred Frederick Richmond: First white boy to live in Ottawa, Kansas

Average customer rating:

The life history of Alfred Frederick Richmond: First white boy to live in Ottawa, Kansas
Alfred Frederick Richmond
Manufacturer: Daylight Print. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Adventurers & Explorers | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008CRG02

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books