Drinan, Rebels in Paradise. Biography of Emma Goldman, 1869-1940 -- feminist, anarchist, socialist, who reflected the movements of which she was a vital part.  Corrects some myths in Goldman's autobiography. Two other, more recent, biographies of Goldman are: Solomon, Emma Goldman and Wexler, Emma Goldman:  An Intimate Life.

Ginger, Eugene V. Debs and Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs, Citizen and Socialist. These are the two best biographies of America's leading socialist and trade unionist during the first two decades of this century.  One year he received almost one million votes for President. In 1894 he led the famous Pullman railroad strike near Chicago. The Salvatore biography is more recent and draws on Debs' letters as well as other materials.

Shore, Talkin' Socialism:  J.A. Wayland and the Role of the Press in American Radicalism. Wayland edited the Appeal to Reason, a socialist newspaper during the Debs era, which had a national circulation over 200,000.

Miller, Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism. Berger was the first Socialist elected to Congress and a leader of the socialist movement in Milwaukee during the first two decades of this century.

McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells or Schechter, Idea B. Wells Barnett and American Reform: 1880-1930. Wells, an African American woman who lived from 1862 to 1931, was a pioneer in the cause of women and civil rights. Despite the obstacles placed in her way as a result of her race and gender, she became a crusading journalist and organizer during the Progressive Era. She lead the movement to stop lynchings and to expose the false stereotypes used to justify lynchings. She organized other African American women to demand the vote. She was a key forerunner of both the civil rights and women's movements.

Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House and The Second Twenty Years at Hull House. Jane Addams founded Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago, and is considered the founder of the social work profession. In addition, she was a leading radical, pacifist, and feminist during the first few decades of this century. These two books, which comprise Addams' autobiography, should be read together as one book.

Carlson, Roughneck:  The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood. Haywood was a leading of the Industrial Workers of the World movement and an important figure in the history of the American labor movement.

O'Neil, Everyone Was Brave. This is a collective biography of the leading suffragettes and feminists during the early 19000's, revealing what they had in common and how they differed.  Many were also involved in other causes, too -- unionism, settlement house work, etc.

Fraser, Labor  Will  Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor. This is the biography of one of the most influential labor leaders of the 20th century. Hillman was not only the president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers union before and during the New Deal, but also a close political advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt.

DeCaux, Labor Radical. Autobiography of Len DeCaux, who was active in the industrial union movement in the first half of this century.

Healey, California Red: A Life in the American Communist Party. Dorothy Healey was a leader of the C.P. in Los Angeles from the l940s through the l960s, when she quit the C.P., but continued her involvement in radicalism to this day. In her youth, she helped organize farmworkers in California. This autobiography, written with Maurice Isserman, is also called Dorothy Healy Remembers.

Mortimer, Organize! Wyndham Mortimer was an activist in the early days of the United Auto Workers during the Depression.  He was a leader of the famous "sit-down" strikes of 1937 -- a forerunner of the "sit-in" tactics used by the civil rights, student, and environmental movements.  This is his autobiography.

Larrowe, Harry Bridges:  The Rise and Fall of Radical Labor in the United States. Bridges was one of the most influential labor leaders in the United States. A radical, he helped organize and lead the longshoremen's union, particularly on the West Coast.

Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor. The Reuther brothers helped organize the United Auto Workers Union in the l930s. Walter Reuther became president of the union and a major figure in progressive American politics, lending support to the civil rights and other movements through the l960s.

Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle. Steinbeck wrote this novel before he wrote Grapes of Wrath.  This one is about the attempts of the Communist Party to organize migrant farmworkers in California during the Depression.  It is very good at describing the organizing tactics of the CP and the conditions of the farmworkers.  It also expresses Steinbeck's ambivalence about the CP's tactics.  This book is a good companion to Taylor's book about Cesar Chavez and the more recent efforts to organize farmworkers, who are now mostly Mexican-Americans.

Klein, Woody Guthrie. Biography of the folksinger (and father of Arlo Guthrie) who wrote "This Land is Your Land" and hundreds of other songs.  Guthrie was a radical, close to the Communist Party, and active in supporting the industrial trade union movement of the 1940's and later.  The book is not only a biography of Guthrie, but also a good introduction to the culture of the Left, the impact of McCarthyism on the lives of radicals, and the revival of folk music in the 1960's.

Langer, Josephine Herbst. Originally from the Northwest, Herbst became a leading journalist and novelist, traveling around the country and the world during the l920s through the l940s to cover movements for social justice. She was blacklisted during the McCarthy era and all but forgotten until this biography appeared about ten years ago.

Coles, Dorothy Day:  A Radical Devotion and Miller, A Harsh and Dreadful Lover:  Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. Dorothy Day led the Catholic Worker movement, which lived among the poor and organized for justice. These two biographies not only recount Day's life, but describe the movement and its impact on the country.

Robinson, Abraham Went Out:  A Biography of A.J. Muste. Muste played an important role in many of the movements for justice from the l930s through the l960s. He was a labor organizer, a pacifist, an educator and writer, and civil rights activist. He influenced several generations of activists.

Swanberg, Norman Thomas, the Last Idealist. Often called "America's conscience," Norman Thomas was the leader of the American Socialist Party, and a frequent -- though unsuccessful -- candidate for office, from the l930s through the l960s. This is the best of several Thomas biographies.

Sigal, Going Away. This is an autobiographical novel by Clancy Sigal, who traveled around the country in the late 1950's and early 1960's looking up friends from the radical movements of the previous decades.  The novel portrays the devastation of the McCarthy period on their lives.

Wittner, Rebels Against War. Did you know that there was a peace movement in the 1950's?  This is the story of people who, during World War II and the Cold War, organized for peace and disarmament.  Many were later active in the 60's anti-war movement.

Nelson, Steve Nelson, American Radical. Nelson was an immigrant to the U.S. who became a leader of the labor movement in the l920s and l930s, joined the Communist Party, fought in the Spanish Civil War with the Lincoln Brigade, and continued his radical activism through the next five decades.

Gornick, The Romance of American Communism. Gornick interviewed dozens of former members of the Communist Party to get a feeling for what being in the CP was really like on a daily basis.  Her book finds that they were neither the Stalinist robots nor the naive idealist that they are often portrayed as; instead, she finds a wide variety of people with many reasons for joining, staying, and leaving.

Schaffer, Vito Marcantonio, Radical in Congress and LaGumina, Vito Marcantonio, The People's Politician. Marcantonio was a member of the U.S. Congress from New York City during the l940s, where he became an advocate for progressive movements and their causes. He was among a significant number of progressive voices in Congress at the time, many of whom -- such as Jerry Voorhis of California -- were defeated during the McCarthy era.

Schmidt, Henry A. Wallace, Quixotic Crusade 1948 and Markowitz, The Rise and Fall of the People's Century:  Henry A. Wallace and American Liberalism, 1941-1948. Henry Wallace was Secretary of Agriculture and then Vice President of the United States during the FDR years. In l948 he broke with the Democratic Party and ran for President on the Progressive Party ticket. His platform emphasized social reform and opposition to the Cold War.

Lewis, W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race, Lewis and W.E.B. DuBois: The Fight for Equality is a two-volume biography of DuBois,  a major figure in the civil rights movement from the l920s through the l950s. He was a founder of the NAACP, one of the founders of Pan-Africanism, and a radical. He was a sociologist, and historian who wrote dozens of books, including the influential The Souls of Black Folks.  The first volume  covers the first half of DuBois' life, 1868-1919; the second volume covers his life until his death in 1963.  Marable, W.E.B. DuBois, Black Radical Democrat is a one-volume biography of DuBois.

Painter, The Narrative of Hosea Hudson, His Life as a Negro Communist in the South. Hudson was a leader of the early civil rights and labor movements in the South, helping to organize tenant farmers. People like Hudson helped lay the groundwork for the successful organizing efforts of the l950s and l960s.
 
Duberman, Paul Robeson. Paul Robeson was one of the most dynamic figures of American life during the 20th century. He was an All-American athlete, a graduate of Columbia Law School, a linguist, a folklorist, a singer of international fame, a star of opera, films, and Broadway musicals, who was discriminated against for being a Black and a radical. He was blacklisted in the l950s and essentially disappeared from public life and public awareness. This is the first serious biography of Robeson.

Timmons, The Trouble With Harry Hay - Founder of the Modern Gay Movement. Harry Hay was the founder of the Mattachine Society, the first political activist group for homosexuals. For many years, as a radical activist in LA, he was in the closet. He formed the Mattachine Society in the 1950s and is considered the “father” of the modern gay rights movement.

Cottrell, Izzy: A Biography of I.F. Stone. Stone was a radical journalist, primary during the Cold War, who published his own newsletter, I.F. Stone's Weekly. His writing challenged the dominant Cold War ideology of the period, including official explanations of the Korean and VietNam wars. He was a forerunner of the "investigative journalism" of the l970s and beyond.

Pfeffer, A. Philip Randolph, Pioneer of the Civil Right Movement. Randolph was a major figure in the labor, civil rights, and radical movements from the l930s through the l960s. He organized black train porters into a union (the first union of a predominantly black membership), pressured President Truman to integrate the armed forces, and was the behind-the-scenes leader of several major civil rights marches on Washington.

Meerpol and Meerpol, We Are Your Sons.  Robert and Michael Meerpol are the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who died in the electric chair in the l950s for having spied for the Soviet Union. The Rosenberg trial -- along with the 1920s trial of Sacco and Vanzetti – was perhaps the most controversial in American history, because many people believed (and still believe) that the Rosenbergs guilt was not proved, but that the Cold War hysteria influenced the outcome.

Horwitz, Let Them Call Me Rebel:  Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy. Alinsky is the "founding father" of modern community organizing. In the l930s he gave up a career as a criminologist and sociologist to start organizing in low-income neighborhoods in Chicago. His techniques influenced several generations of grassroots community activists, including many who never heard of Alinsky. He founded a training school for organizers and published several manuals on organizing tactics. This recent book is the first full-scale biography of Alinsky.

Horton, The Long Haul. This is the autobiography of Myles Horton, one of the most important, though little-known, participants in the movements for social justice during this century. Horton founded the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, a training school for activists involved in the labor and civil rights movements during the l940s through the l960s, including Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. The song "We Shall Overcome" became a civil rights anthem at Highlander. Horton died a few years ago, but Highlander continues, training activists in the environmental and other movements.

Lipsitz, A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition. Ivory Perry, a black worker and community activist in St. Louis, devoted his life (1930-89) to local struggles for jobs, educational opportunities and housing. This biography chronicles Perry's commitment, his achievements, and the personal costs of his activism.

D’Emilio, Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin and Anderson, Bayard Rustin: The Troubles I've Seen. Rustin was a real "outside agitator" who taught people the techniques of protest and agitation. An African-American activist, a pacifist (he refused to fight in WW2), a radical, and a union activist, he played a key behind-the-scenes role in the civil rights movement. He is primarily responsible for teaching Martin Luther King the tactics and philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience. He was the key organizer (the guy who took care of the details) of the 1963 March on Washington (where King deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech).

Fost, Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden the Strauggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South.  Braden was one of key white radicals who played a leadership role in the Southern civil rights movement. Born in 1924 and raised in an upper class family in Alabama, she became a journalist and was increasingly outraged by the racism she saw all around her. By the late 1940s had become an activist, helping lay the groundwork for the civil rights movements a decade later. She is best known for a 1954 incident in which she and her husband, Carl, purchased a house in an all-white neighborhood of Louisville and, in a pre-arranged transaction meant to protest segregation in housing, resold it to a black family. Segregationists bombed the house, but the Bradens were prosecuted on charges of “sedition.” Now in her late 70s, she remains an activist.

Mills, This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. From a small rural town in Mississippi, Hamer became a leading figure in the Southern civil rights movement during the l960s. She led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the state's segregationist Democratic Party. She is featured in "Eyes on the Prize".

Lewis, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. This is the autobiography of John Lewis, now a U.S. Congressperson from Georgia, who was a leading figure in the 1960s civil rights movement. He was an original participant in the Freedom Rides, the leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and an important organizer of the famous March on Washington for civil rights. He has brought these ideals and ideas into his political career, first on the Atlanta City Council, now in Congress.

Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement and Grant, Ella Baker: Freedom Bound. Ella Baker represents the heart-and-soul of the civil rights movement. She was a vital grassroots organizer from the 1940s through the l970s. She worked with the NAACP, the South Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, but typically in a behind-the-scenes capacity and is thus much less well-known than leaders like Martin Luther King.

Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi. Autobiography of a young black woman who was active in the civil rights movement in the South. and Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi. These are excerpts from letters written by white student volunteers during the Southern civil rights movement of the 1960's.  It gives a feel for the daily lives of those involved in voter registration drives and other activities, including the climate of fear.  These two short books, combined, will count as one book for purposes of your assignment.

Dunaway, How Can I Keep From Singing?. This is the biography of Pete Seeger, the folk-singer who has participated in the major social justice movements since the 1940's.  The film "Wasn't That a Time?" deals with the Weavers, a very popular singing group of which Seeger was a member until they were blacklisted in the McCarthy era. Seeger helped catalyze the revival of folk music and its links with social justice movements. He is still performing and making records, and involved with environmental and other movements.

Kotz and Kotz, A Passion for Equality. Biography of George Wiley, a young, black, chemistry professor at Syracuse who became active in the civil rights movement.  He soon left teaching and organized the National Welfare Rights Movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  The book provides a good description of how movements operate on a day-to-day basis.

Garrow, Ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of JoAnn Gibson Robinson. Most people associate the Montgomery Bus Boycott with Martin Luther King or with Rosa Parks. But Robinson was one of the key participants in this important struggle of the civil rights movement, and this autobiography tells her version of those events.

Forman, The Making of Black Revolutionaries. This book traces the path of James Forman from a civil rights leader to a militant black nationalist and shows how the black movement changed during the 1960's and 1970's.

Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid:  The Story of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney and the Civil Right Campaign for Mississippi. During the l964 Freedom Summer, civil rights activists -- including many white college students from the North -- worked to register black voters and break down the segregated political and social life of the South. Three activists were killed by segregationists with the complicity of local law enforcement officials. This is a biography of the three activists and the story of their murder.

King, Freedom Song:  A Personal Story of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement. Mary King was a white civil rights activist in the South who later became active in the early women's movement.  Her autobiography describes the difficult role of whites, and women, in the civil rights movement.

Garrow, Bearing the Cross:  Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Souther Christian Leadership Conference. This is without doubt the best biography of King. It traces his family background, describes the importance of his religious training and beliefs, and explains how he became involved in the civil rights movement and the many struggles within the movement over differences in philosophy, tactics, and ego.

Dellinger, More Power Than We Know. David Dellinger is best know as a leading pacifist and activist in the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960's.  But his pacifism goes back to World War II -- in which he refused to serve -- and extends to today's anti-nuke movement.  This is a quasi-autobiography.

Cowan, The Making of an Un-American. Autobiography of an activist in the early New Left of the 1960's.  He attended prep schools and Harvard, joined the civil rights movement in the South, then enlisted in the Peace Corps, and later wrote for the Village Voice.

Harrington, Fragments of a Century and The Long Distance Runner; Isserman, The Other American.  The first two books  are  autobiographies of Michael Harrington, the leading socialist activist in post-WW2 America. The third book is a new biography of Harrington.  Harrington joined the Catholic Worker movement, then wrote The Other America, a book that exposed the depths of poverty in the early 1960's and inspired the various war-on-poverty programs.  His writings and activism had a tremendous influence on American politics in the l960s to the l980s. Read one of them for this assignment.

Chafe, Never Stop Running: Allard Lowenstein and the Struggle to Save American Liberalism. Lowenstein was a college professor and administrator who played key roles in both the civil rights and anti-war movement and was an early opponent of apartheid in South Africa. Among his other activities, he helped recruit many Northern white students to take part in the Southern civil rights movement and in the anti-war movement. His opposition to the Vietnam war helped convince LBJ not to run for re-election in l968. Lowenstein also served briefly in Congress.