Saturday, April 27, 2013

WOW Book Club: An American Radical

We're coming back to the US this month to look into a personal memoir of a US political prisoner, Susan Rosenberg in the book An American Radical: A Political Prisoner in my own Country.

Here's a Book Summary:
On a November night in 1984, Susan Rosenberg sat in the passenger seat of a U-Haul as it swerved along the New Jersey Turnpike. At the wheel was a fellow political activist. In the back were 740 pounds of dynamite and assorted guns.
Raised on New York City's Upper West Side, Rosenberg had been politically active since high school, involved in the black liberation movement and protesting repressive U.S. policies around the world and here at home. At 29, she was on the FBI's Most Wanted list. While unloading the U-Haul at a storage facility, Rosenberg was arrested and sentenced to an unprecedented 58 years for possession of weapons and explosives.

Rosenberg served 16 years in some of the worst maximum-security prisons in the United States before being pardoned by President Clinton as he left office in 2001. Now, in a story that is both a powerful memoir and a profound indictment of the U.S. prison system, Rosenberg recounts her journey from the impassioned idealism of the 1960s to life as a political prisoner in her own country, subjected to dehumanizing treatment, yet touched by moments of grace and solidarity. 

We'll be meeting in SOMA neighborhood on Sunday April 28 at 2pm at the Sightglass Coffee Bar.

Next Books to read:
May 2013: Outcasts United by Warren St. John
June 2013: Don't be afraid Gringo by Elvia Alvarado

No comments: