Dissent in America: Voices That Shaped a Nation

This concise collection of primary sources presents the story of US History as told by dissenters who, throughout the course of American history, have fought to gain rights they believed were denied to them or others, or who disagreed with the government or majority opinion.

 

Each document is introduced by placing it in its historical context, and thought-provoking questions are provided to focus the student when s/he reads the text. Instructors are at liberty to choose the documents that best highlight themes they wish to emphasize.

“Dissent is central to American history,” writes historian, professor, terrorism expert, and novelist Young, and central, one might extrapolate, to the American spirit and democracy itself. Young originally constructed a comprehensive and scholarly two-volume collection of the writings, speeches, and manifestos of visionary and influential American dissenters. He now offers a concentrated version that is both more accessible and more dramatic in its chronological and inclusive coverage of a spectrum of resistance to injustice, from pre–Revolutionary War petitions to protests against the Iraq War. Name a world-altering social movement, and you will find fiery expressions of its impetus, beliefs, demands, and hopes, from the birth of the nation to religious freedom, free speech, abolition, environmental concerns, and the battles to protect the rights of Native Americans, African Americans, workers, women, and gays. Along with official documents and cries from the hearts of ordinary citizens, Young includes protest music (Woody Guthrie, Ani DiFranco, Mos Def), and profound and eloquent writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Mario Salvo, and Gloria Steinem. --Donna Seaman