About the Book
From women’s suffrage to Civil Rights for African Americans, to the environment, and the gay and lesbian liberation movement, the American Left has achieved notable successes in the 20th and 21st centuries. Sometimes celebrated and sometimes reviled, the Left has taken on many forms and reinvented itself many times over the past century.
In All-American Rebels, historian Robert C. Cottrell traces the rise and fall, ebb and flow of left-wing American movements. Following an overview of early 20th century movements, Cottrell focuses on the 1960s to today, offering readers a concise introduction and helping them to understand the political and ideological roots of the Left today. Cottrell includes chapters on the most recent versions of the American left, discussing community organizing, gay liberation, the women’s movement, the Campaign for Economic Democracy, the nuclear freeze movement, opposition to U.S. intervention in Central America, the anti-WTO campaign, Code Pink, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and more. The demand for and support of democracy and the quest for empowerment in various guises unifies these different lefts to one another and to the general unfolding of American history. Cottrell argues that democratic engagement has proven inconsistent and at times outright contradictory. The Left has been most successful when it fully embraces a democratic vision.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Socialists, Wobblies, and Village Rebels
Chapter 2: Repression and the Postwar American Left
Chapter 3: Heyday of the Old Left
Chapter 4: American Radicalism and the Early Cold War
Chapter 5: Revolt of the Young (and Others)
Chapter 6: The Year of Revolution and Beyond
Chapter 7: One, Two, Many Movements
Chapter 8: Citizen Activism on Many Fronts
Chapter 9 : Resurgent Radicalism
Bibliography
About the Author :
Among Robert C. Cottrell’s books are seminal biographies of the radical journalist I. F. Stone, ACLU icon Roger Nash Baldwin, and Negro League founder Rube Foster. He also authored a book on WWII-era conscientious objectors who served as smokejumpers for the Civilian Public Service, and a dual biography of Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson that braided the unholy trinity of anti-Semitism, racism, and baseball. Cottrell’s most recent works include Drugs, Sex, and Rock ‘n Roll: The Rise of America’s 1960s Counterculture and 1968: The Rise and Fall of the New American Revolution (both published by R & L). He is currently completing another retrospective of the 1960s, highlighting the theme of empowerment.
Review :
Cottrell offers a broad survey of the American Left’s long history from the 1900s to the Trump presidency, arguing that the movement has been most successful when it is independent and democratic. Thousands of organizations and prominent individuals are mentioned—many of which do not make the index—as part of brief descriptions of hundreds of events and manifestos. The book covers a wide range of movements from the Socialist Party to movements fighting for African American, disabled, LGBTQIA+, and women’s rights. Recommended. General readers and undergraduates.
Robert C. Cottrell's All-American Rebels is the indispensable book for anyone interested in the history of the American Left, detailed, lucid, balanced, and comprehensive. This is not just a synthesis, but a work of original scholarship, particularly pathbreaking in its examination of the 21st century Left. The extensive annotated bibliography at the book's conclusion is, in itself, worth the cover price.
Robert C. Cottrellhas performed a miracle of research and scholarship in his new book, All-American Rebels, which traces radical movements, causes and leading radical figures in the U.S.A. from the early 20th-century to the start of the 21st century. Written with grace and style, Cottrell’s volume adds greatly to the already substantial body of work about the Left in a nation that has persecuted, jailed, deported and blacklisted rebels and troublemakers. Groups and organizations that once clashed with one another, such as Trotskyites, Communist and Socialists, sit side-by-side in the pages of All-American Rebels. While Cottrell has some favorites, he is remarkably evenhanded in a compact work that shows that radicalism has always been at the core of U.S. history, and that it has survived and even thrived during times of repression and right-wing ascendancy. Tom Paine would love Cottrell’s book. So would Tom Hayden, as well as labor leaders like Eugene Debs, plus radical feminists, advocates of black power, red power, brown power, gay rights, and today’s environmentalists who scream about the coming global apocalypse. All-American Rebels is essential reading for those who participated in the struggles for equality and justice, and for those who are eager to learn about the history that has often been whitewashed from the official story.
Robert C. Cottrell takes us on a fascinating journey with the radical Left of the twentieth century from Eugene V. Debs to Bernie Sanders, from the Wobblies to Black Lives Matter, from the ACLU to Antifa, and the multitude of movements in between. A thoroughly researched and well written overview of the successes and failures of leftwing radicalism, this compact book is a welcome addition to the history of American dissent and its significant impact on the development of US society.
Robert Cottrell's pithy primer belongs on the shelf of anyone, whether they are a curious college student or a veteran political organizer, who wants to understand the rich and contentious history of the American Left.
Robert C. Cottrell performs a remarkable feat with this compact but comprehensive history of the homegrown American left. He introduces us to all the rich and colorful characters of the old left and new; to the triumphs and tragedies and government repression; to the noble causes and the Stalinist failings; to the Wobblies and the Suffragettes and the Black Power Movement; to SDS and the momentous events of the 1960s - and to the hashtag movements of today. It’s a great read. I couldn’t put it down.
Robert C. Cottrell is not the first historian to survey left-wing American activists in recent decades, but he is perhaps the most ambitious and up to date. In crisp, concise prose he discusses them, and notes that they include a “wide array of movements,” relating to issues concerning “the rights of women, gays, and others in the 1970s and 1980s.” Reflecting an amazing talent for synthesis, Cottrell, the author of more than twenty books, reminds the reader of dissent’s place in American history, and provides a wonderful, informative bibliography, but no source citations or illustrations.
