“the realities of american politics, it turns out, are different than as described in old civic textbooks, which tell us how fortunate we are to have the ballot. the major nominees for president are not chosen by the ballot but are picked for us by a quadrennial political convention which is half farce, half circus, most of whose delegates have not been instructed by popular vote. for months before the conventions the public has been conditioned by the mass media in who is who, so that it will not be tempted to think beyond that list which the party regulars have approved.”


written in response to justice abe fortas’ pamphlet “concerning dissent and civil disobedience.” zinn writes of the necessity of civil disobedience in the context of the civil rights movement and the vietnam war. much of this is still relevant today. this book is informative and well constructed.