Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In this lively collection, bestselling author Adam Hochschild has selected some two dozen essays and pieces of reporting from his long career. Threading through them all is his concern for social justice and the people who have fought for it. The articles here cover the world, from a California gun show to a Finnish prison, from a Congolese center for rape victims to the ruins of gulag camps in the Soviet Arctic, from a stroll through construction sites with an ecologically pioneering architect in India to a day on the campaign trail with Nelson Mandela. Hochschild also talks about the writers he loves, from Mark Twain to John McPhee, about why so much history is written so badly, about what bookshelves tell us about their owners, and about the ringside seat he had for the shocking revelation, in the 1960s, of the way the CIA had been secretly controlling dozens of supposedly independent organizations.
With the skills of a journalist, the knowledge of a historian, and the heart of an activist, Hochschild shares the stories of people who took a stand against despotism, spoke out against unjust wars and government surveillance, and dared to dream of a better and more just world.