Review: Improper behavior–when misconduct is good for society

5 Star, Culture, DVD - Light, Democracy, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Elizabeth Janeway

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EDIT of 24 February 2013

This book has now passed into Open Access, but I continue to believe that Amazon should consider offering it as a CreateSpace and Kindle option. Dissent is a patriotic duty. The Iraq War was elective and based on 935 now-documented lies. What is done in our name today with drones and assassination teams and incarceration without due process is unConstitutional in the USA and a crime against humanity abroad. I am a patriot. A patriot does not let traitors get away with hijacking the government and must at a minimum speak their mind.

New links since the original review was written:

Why Societies Need Dissent (Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures)
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage (Critical Perspectives Series: A Book Series Dedicated to Paulo Freire)

ORIGINAL REVIEW of 13 August 2008

I entitled this review with the sub-title of Elizabeth Janeway's brilliant book. This is a book that is long overdue for a reprint and perhaps an update. I read it in the 1980's and used it in the 1990's on more than one occasion, with the line, inspired by this book:

“It used to be legal to oppress people of color and women–that did not make it right.”

The author, and the book, are central to any literature or discussion of the role of dissent in society, and the manner in which the public can ultimately triumph over any external authority including dictatorships and abusive corrupt regimes.

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