A Life at the Margins: Keeping the Political Vision - Softcover

Paul Von Blum

9780976876144: A Life at the Margins: Keeping the Political Vision

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0976876140 ISBN 13: 9780976876144

Publisher: New World African Press, 2011

Paul Von Blum's A Life at the Marigns. offers a compeling narrative about a man whose life has been committed to teaching and social justice. From his reflections about the impact of the Holocaust on his family to his motivations for a lifetime commitment to the black freedom movement and to his longstanding struggles for fair treatment as a lecturer within the halls of academia. Von Blum poignantly reveals the intricate connections between personal biographuy and larger social forces. This book is an unplifting read packed with important insights.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Paul Von Blum is Senior Lecturer Emeritus in African American Studies and Communication Studies at UCLA, where he continues to teach. He has received Distinguished Teaching Award and several other teaching honors during his 41 years of faculty service at the University of California. He is the author of over 100 articles on art history, politics, law, and education as well as five previous books: the Art of social Conscience, 1976; The Critical vision: A History of Social and Political Art in the United States, 1982; Stillborn Education: A Critique of the American Research University, 1986; Other Visions, Other Voices: Women Political Artists in Los Angeles, 1995; and Resistance, Dignity, and Pride: African American Artists in Los Angeles, 2004. He is also a longtime Civil Rights and political activist.

Review:

Paul Von Blum is the personification of 'Question Authority,' a credo he has shared with over 40,000 students in such courses as 'Agitational Communication' and Paul Robeson: An American Life. his memoir intertwining maverick academic experience with decades of moral activism--serves as an important slice of progressive history. --Paul Krassner, Author of Who's to Saiy What's Obscene: Politics, Culture and Comedy in America Today.

As Thoreau implored American citizens to do in the 1840s. Paul Von Blum has always followed his conscience, resulting in a lifelong engagement with civil rights, Jewish-African American relations, and political art. These passions led him to a life at the margins of institutional academic life but also to the middle of some of the most dramatic events of the late 20th century, including the March on Washington for jobs and freedom, the Free Speech Movement, and Prague Spring. He has had a significant impact on thousands of students (I was one of them) to whom his interdisciplinary approach to art and politics opened new worlds. Reading this book, one cannot help but be struck by his profound and unwavering commitment to radical politics . . . --Robbie Lieberman, Professor of Histeory, Souithern Illinois University and author of the award-winning book, My Song is My Weapon: People's Songs, American Communis, and The Politics of Culture

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.