STANDING UP TO THE MADNESS

Hardcover, 272 pages

English language

Published April 8, 2008 by Hyperion.

ISBN:: 978-1-4013-2288-5
OCLC Number:: 180753862

(1 review)

Standing Up to the Madness not only is a timely, inspiring, and even revolutionary look at who wields the greatest power in America—everyday people who take a chance and stand up for what they believe in—but also offers advice on what you can do to help.Where are the millions marching in the streets to defend human rights, civil liberties, and racial justice? Where is the mass revulsion against the killing and torture being carried out in our name? Where are the environmentalists? Where is the peace movement?The answer: They are everywhere.The award-winning sister-brother team of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman traveled the country to detail the ways in which grassroots activists have taken politics out of the hands of politicians. Standing Up to the Madness tells the stories of everyday citizens who have challenged the government and prevailed.As the Bush administration has waged war …

Standing Up to the Madness not only is a timely, inspiring, and even revolutionary look at who wields the greatest power in America—everyday people who take a chance and stand up for what they believe in—but also offers advice on what you can do to help.Where are the millions marching in the streets to defend human rights, civil liberties, and racial justice? Where is the mass revulsion against the killing and torture being carried out in our name? Where are the environmentalists? Where is the peace movement?The answer: They are everywhere.The award-winning sister-brother team of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman traveled the country to detail the ways in which grassroots activists have taken politics out of the hands of politicians. Standing Up to the Madness tells the stories of everyday citizens who have challenged the government and prevailed.As the Bush administration has waged war abroad and at home, it has catalyzed a vast groundswell of political action. From African-American residents of deluged New Orleans who are fighting racism and City Hall to regain their homes; to four Connecticut librarians who refused to spy on their patrons, challenged the USA PATRIOT Act, and won; to a group of high school students who were barred from performing a play they wrote on the Iraq War based on letters from soldiers; to the first U.S. Army officer to publicly refuse orders to deploy to Iraq, charging that his duty as an officer is to refuse to fight in an illegal and immoral war, Standing Up to the Madness profiles citizens rising to extraordinary challenges. And, in the process, they are changing the way that politics is done, both now and in the future.In communities around the United States, courageous individuals have taken leaps of faith to stop the madness. They could only hope that if they led, others would follow. That is how movements are born. What begins as one, eventually becomes many. In that tradition, the authors have included the ways in which any individual can take action and effect change.

2 editions

Moorlock reviewed STANDING UP TO THE MADNESS by Amy Goodman

Review of 'STANDING UP TO THE MADNESS' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The brother & sister team of progressive journalists [a:Amy Goodman|22448|Amy Goodman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223433046p2/22448.jpg] and [a:David Goodman|22448|Amy Goodman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223433046p2/22448.jpg] have collected several stories of people who came face to face with some of the evils of the Dubya Squad years but who made the sadly rare but always heartening decision to not take it lying down. They tell these stories in [b:Standing Up to the Madness|2558258|Standing Up To the Madness Ordinary Heroes In Extraordinary Times|Amy Goodman|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517N7QpMwSL.SL75.jpg|2566740].

Over the course of the book, team Goodman tell us

* how the Common Ground Relief group got organized and fought back when the government tried to piggy-back an ethnic cleansing campaign on top of Hurricane Katrina

* how when an Iraq-born U.S. citizen got kicked off a flight for wearing a T-shirt with Arabic lettering on it, this inspired whole leagues of “I am Sparticus!”-types to challenge effective Arabic-on-transit bans with their own shirts

* …

The brother & sister team of progressive journalists [a:Amy Goodman|22448|Amy Goodman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223433046p2/22448.jpg] and [a:David Goodman|22448|Amy Goodman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223433046p2/22448.jpg] have collected several stories of people who came face to face with some of the evils of the Dubya Squad years but who made the sadly rare but always heartening decision to not take it lying down. They tell these stories in [b:Standing Up to the Madness|2558258|Standing Up To the Madness Ordinary Heroes In Extraordinary Times|Amy Goodman|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517N7QpMwSL.SL75.jpg|2566740].

Over the course of the book, team Goodman tell us

* how the Common Ground Relief group got organized and fought back when the government tried to piggy-back an ethnic cleansing campaign on top of Hurricane Katrina

* how when an Iraq-born U.S. citizen got kicked off a flight for wearing a T-shirt with Arabic lettering on it, this inspired whole leagues of “I am Sparticus!”-types to challenge effective Arabic-on-transit bans with their own shirts

* how when the FBI started issuing National Security Letters to libraries — simultaneously demanding patron records without a warrant or court order, denying to the press and to Congress that they were doing any such thing, and issuing a legal gag order to the letter recipients prohibiting them from contradicting the lies — one group of librarians fought back and won

* how a determined climate scientist at NASA defied White House attempts to turn the agency in to a climate change denial propaganda arm, and bypassed the oil industry public relations handlers who had been put in charge of the agency press office to take agency research directly to Congress and the press

* how a small number of American Psychological Association professionals exposed that the association’s anonymous task force on complicity with torture had been stacked with pro-torture military psychologists in order to provide cover for psychologists who were helping the government make their torture techniques more precise and effective

* how a drama teacher and a group of persistent students responded to having their student play about the experiences of Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans banned by the school principle — by working harder to polish the play and taking it off-Broadway

* how a community rallied around the Jena Six

* how several soldiers have refused to deploy after coming to a crisis of conscience about war, or learning about the mendacity involved in the current set

All of this is heartwarming and can be inspiring. Team Goodman is writing a book of praise and celebration. Because of this, the episodes are not presented with much nuance or objectivity. They reminded me a bit of the sort of hagiographical stories about Jackie Robinson or Neil Armstrong that I would read in elementary school.

But that said, this would be a good book to inspire any progressive who wants to move on from having correct opinions to being capable of heroic decisions.

Subjects

General
Political Science / General
Political Science
Politics / Current Events
Politics/International Relations