The richness of the American radical tradition presented in a single volume. Radicalism is as American as apple pie. One can scarcely imagine what American society would look like without the
abolitionists, feminists,
union organizers,
civil rights workers, gay and lesbian activists, and
environmentalists who have fought to breathe life into the promises of freedom and equality, the lifeblood of American democracy. The first anthology of its kind,
The Radical Reader brings together more than two hundred primary documents in the most comprehensive collection ever assembled of the writings of America's native radical tradition. Spanning the colonial period through the 1990s, the documents have been drawn from a wealth of sources--speeches, manifestos, newspaper editorials, literature, pamphlets, and private letters--representing the work of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Skidmore,
Sojourner Truth, Terence Powderly,
Eugene Debs, Marcus Garvey, C. Wright Mills, The Combahee River Collective, Aldo Leopold, Martha Shelley, Stokely Carmichael, and Audre Lorde, along with many others.
From Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" to Kate Millett's "Sexual Politics," these documents sparked, guided, and distilled the most influential movements in American history. Brief introductory essays by the editors provide a rich biographical and historical context for each selection.
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Background Information
Abolitionism was the movement, centered in the North, that abolition of slavery even in those states that had practiced it since the founding of the country. The American labor movement began tentatively during the Industrial Revolution and reached maturity during the New Deal with the support of and for FDR. Eugene Victor Debs ran many times on the Socialist Party ticket for president of the United States, once while imprisoned for his opposition to World War I. Thomas Paine wrote influential pamphlets during the American Revolution, which have inspired revolutionaries ever since.
