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978-1-58838-169-9
1-58838-169-2
$24.95 hardcover
5 ½ X 8 ½
250 pages
NewSouth Books
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Here
is a fresh and strong appeal from the South, to redeem the best of
American values in our government. An amazing collection of authors
takes an expert look at what one essay calls 'the Southernization of
American Politics' and stands fearlessly against the South of George W.
Bush and its Yankee allies and apologists. Witty, reasoned,
uncompromising, and deeply informed, Where We Stand comes none
too soon.
— Sean Wilentz, Princeton University Director of American Studies and
Dayton-Stockton Professor of History
There is a long tradition of courageous Southerners who have stood up
against the dominant values of the nation and the South and spoken out
against war and racism. Here is an extraordinary group of writers from
every part of the South who embody the tradition and give us, at a time
when we need it most, voices that ring out eloquently for peace and
justice.
— Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
Pride and shame mingle together the essays in this compelling volume,
which deserves the close attention of every reader anxious to explore
the majesty and the tragedies of an area still haunted by some 200 years
of slavery.
— Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
The South nourishes a special kind of liberalism -- more patient and
courteous than that of the North, but also tempered by struggle to a
steely resilience. You'll find it beautifully voiced in Where We
Stand, a book that has taught me, for the first time, to take pride
in the region I now call home.
— Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting
Along in America
Where there is no vision, the people perish. We are perishing, and
voices are rising across the land. These are among them. We would do
well to listen and consider.
—Will Campbell, civil rights veteran and author of Brother to a
Dragonfly
It may seem that a Magnolia Curtain has descended across the South.
As in old times there, it is claimed that only one opinion and one party
have any credence and right. But the writers in Where We Stand are
shafts of light breaking through that monopoly. The dissenting voices of
today, like those of progressive Southerners before them, are in fact
the prevailing voices of the future. — Sidney Blumenthal, former
senior advisor to President Bill Clinton
As the new book, Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent
indicates, the Southern tradition of dissent against injustice is alive
and growing. Anybody can buy a cowboy hat and boots, but the Southern
soul is not so easily for sale.
--Tom Gardner, The Boston Globe
Just as Franklin was a voice of principle, reason and enlightenment
in his day, so the authors of Where We Stand speak out with
courage and love of country from the depth of their convictions in our
own troubled times. They remind us of the core values of the republic:
freedom and equality, justice and democracy. Agree with all, some or
none of their opinions, theirs are voices that we ignore at our peril.
--Samia Serageldin, The Chapel Hill News
What I found in the book's 12 essays, written by outstanding
Southerners, reassured me that there are still thinking, caring
individuals who are willing to stand up and lend their voices to the
cause of freedom -- freedom for all Americans who believe in the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
--Susan Farrington, The Sanford Herald
Where We Stand is not a manifesto in the traditional sense, for the
writers are intensely individual thinkers who resist the easy seductions
of jingoism and sloganeering.
--Wayne Christeson, Nashville Scene
I was struck by the down-to-earthness of the book's contributors.
Although most were academics of one stripe or another, all wrote with
vivid memories of personal experience.
--John F. Sugg, Creative Loafing
Editor Anthony Dunbar has assembled essays from 12 leading Southern
historians, activists, civil rights attorneys, law professors, and
theologians to discuss militarism, religion, the environment, voting
rights, the Patriot Act, the economy, prisons and crime, and other
subjects. The writers share the beliefs that the current policies of our
national administration sacrifice the interests of the poor and the
people who work for a living to the interests of a privileged elite,
that the power of money and the military must be tethered, that the
natural environment must be sheltered, and that racial justice matters.
A common sentiment is dismay at the deepening chasm that now divides
America and specifically the South into hostile armies whose leaders are
fast losing whatever motivation they ever had to pursue compromise and
cooperation, and the common good. The essayists are Leslie Dunbar, Paul
Gaston, John Egerton, Janisse Ray, Dan Pollitt, Connie Curry, Laughlin
McDonald, Sheldon Hackney, Susan Wiltshire, Gene Nichol, Dan Carter, and
Charles Bussey.
about the editor
Anthony Dunbar is the Lillian Smith Book Award-winning author of books
about Mississippi, Appalachia, migrant workers, and the Southern labor
movement. Collectively, these authors have written scores of books. |
