Land And Liberty

A comparative examination of black rural communities' claims to land and their connections to the broader fight against racism in Brazil.

Sweet Land of Liberty is Thomas J. Sugrue’s epic account of the abiding quest for racial equality in states from Illinois to New York, and of how the intense northern struggle differed from and was inspired by the fight down South. Sugrue’s panoramic view sweeps from the 1920s to the present–more than eighty of the most decisive years in American history. He uncovers the forgotten stories of battles to open up lunch counters, beaches, and movie theaters in the North; the untold history of struggles against Jim Crow schools in northern towns; the dramatic story of racial conflict in northern cities and suburbs; and the long and tangled histories of integration and black power. Filled with unforgettable characters and riveting incidents, and making use of information and accounts both public and private, such as the writings of obscure African American journalists and the records of civil rights and black power groups, Sweet Land of Liberty creates an indelible history.

"In Land and Liberty, Thomas Humphrey recounts the story of the Hudson Valley land riots from the 1750s through the 1790s. He examines the social dimensions of the conflict, from individual landlord-tenant relations to cross-cultural alliances, in the context of colonial structure and Revolutionary politics. Humphrey offers a multilayered explanation of why inhabitants of the Hudson Valley resorted to extreme tactics - and why they achieved mixed results."--BOOK JACKET.

Using the concept of "classical republicanism" in his analysis, Kenneth Winn argues against the common view that the Mormon religion was an exceptional phenomenon representing a countercultural ideology fundamentally subversive to American society. Rather, he maintains, both the Saints and their enemies affirmed republican principles, but in radically different ways. Winn identifies the 1830 founding of the Mormon church as a religious protest against the pervasive disorder plaguing antebellum America, attracting people who saw the libertarianism, religious pluralism, and market capitalism of Jacksonian America as threats to the Republic. While non-Mormons shared the perception that the Union was in danger, many saw the Mormons as one of the chief threats. General fear of Joseph Smith and his followers led to verbal and physical attacks on the Saints, which reinforced the Mormons' conviction that America had descended into anarchy. By 1846, violent opposition had driven Mormons to the uninhabited Great Salt Lake Basin.

As background to the events in Chiapas, here is a seminal collection of essays by the famous theorist and activist Ricardo Flores Magón who influenced the Mexican Revolution, particularly the movements of Villa and Zapata. 1977: 156 pages, illustrated "paperback" ISBN: 0-919618-30-8 $12.99 "hardcover" ISBN: 0-919618-29-4 $41.99

The Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 was a decisive moment in England's history; an invading Dutch army forced James II to flee to France, and his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, were crowned as joint sovereigns. The wider consequences were no less startling: bloody war in Ireland, Union with Scotland, Jacobite intrigue, deep involvement in two major European wars, Britain's emergence as a great power, a 'financial revolution', greater religious toleration, a riven Church, and a startling growth of parliamentary government. Such changes were only part of the transformation of English society at the time. An enriching torrent of new ideas from the likes of Newton, Defoe, and Addison, spread through newspapers, periodicals, and coffee-houses, provided new views and values that some embraced and others loathed. England's horizons were also growing, especially in the Caribbean and American colonies. For many, however, the benefits were uncertain: the slave trade flourished, inequality widened, and the poor and 'disorderly' were increasingly subject to strictures and statutes. If it was an age of prospects it was also one of anxieties.

The formation of the modern state, the rise of capitalism, the Renaissance and Reformation, the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment have all been attributed to the “early modern” period. Nearly everything about its history remains controversial, but one thing is certain: it left a rich and provocative legacy of political ideas unmatched in Western history. The concepts of liberty, equality, property, human rights and revolution born in those turbulent centuries continue to shape, and to limit, political discourse today. Assessing the work and background of figures such as Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Spinoza, the Levellers, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Ellen Wood vividly explores the ideas of the canonical thinkers, not as philosophical abstractions but as passionately engaged responses to the social conflicts of their day.

A powerful and moving account of the campaign for civil rights in modern America. Robert Cook is concerned less with charismatic leaders like Martin Luther King, and more with the ordinary men and women who were mobilised by the grass-roots activities of civil-rights workers and community leaders. He begins with the development of segregation in the late nineteenth century, but his main focus is on the continuing struggle this century. It is a dramatic story of many achievements - even if in many respects it is also a record of unfinished business.