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American Rebels



Jack Newfield
January 2004     ISBN: 1560255439

The Americans celebrated in these pages can variously be described as visionaries, revolutionaries, radicals, liberals, nonconformists, outsiders, insurgents, prophets and pathfinders. They don't all fit under any one ideology or party. Most were too much free spirits to be categorized. They are part of a continuum of conviction and creation in our tangled national history. And they are all distinctively American.

Some like Walt Whitman, Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra are famous. Others are less well known but have earned a much broader appreciation; among them, Sam Fuller, Rachel Carson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Paul O'Dwyer and Mike Harrington. Still others are comparatively obscure--almost cult figures--revered by a small, intense following. In this category are Benjamin Mays, Father Mychal Judgek and Bill Hicks. Others have faded from memory like Margaret Sanger and Clarence Darrow, and deserve a new shaft of sunlight.

This book is a celebration of history, standards, individualism and an alternative America. It is a hymn to the bravery of rebels past, present and hopefully future.

What readers are saying

"Any one of these "American rebels" could easily have an entire book written about them (and many have, of course), but it's impressive how much these talented essayists can tell us in such a limited amount of space. A theme collection that really works."

--Booklist

About the Authors

Jack Newfield began his career in the 1960s as a columnist for the Village Voice. He did investigative reporting for the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Sun, and The Nation magazine. Newfield was the author of ten books and collaborated on numerous documentaries. He died on December 21, 2004.
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