Heroes and Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, and the Revolutionary Struggle

Rating:
Summary: Radical History you can Hear
Review: Two disks. One dedicated to telling Emma Goldman's life story, the other to the case of Sacco & Vanzetti. It's impossible to do justice to either in the space of a single, spoken-word CD, but Howard Zinn tells us enough to make it worthwhile.

These are the stories they didn't tell you in American History classes. The abuse of political activists has a long history in this country, and Zinn drives home two instances of it. If you've already read Living my Life and Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, the Emma Goldman disk will give you little new information, but it's still fun to listen to. I hadn't read much about Sacco & Vanzetti before, but I found way too many parallels between their case and political prisoners like Mumia abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier.

Zinn is not the most dynamic speaker, but these two lectures won't put you to sleep. Well worth the time & money. I'm going to tape them so I can listen when the freeway gets clogged up.

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