Against the Grain: An Anthology of Dissent, Past and Present; Bacon, Solzhenitsyn, Erasmus, Rand, Proudhon, Cohn-Bendit, Thoreau, King, Nietzsche, McGovern, Debs, Baldwin, Twain, Fulbright

by Frederick C. Giffin (Editor), Ronald D. Smith (Editor)

What is dissent? From an attack by Gaius Gracchus on the status quo of Imperial Rome, Bacon's opposition to the medieval crusades, and Erasmus' attack on warmongers, to the challenging outspokenness of such contemporary voice as James Baldwin, George McGovern, and J. William Fulbright, the role of dissent - no matter how subtle, how much in the minority - has shaped world history through the ages. What is a dissenter? "He sees what he believes to be flaws in the existing order of things," write Frederick C. Giffin and Ronald D. Smith in their Preface to this fascinating collection, "and seeks to remedy them - even if only by attempting to bring them to the attention of the upholders of tradition." The editors have arranged their selections of dissenting literature in chronological order, avoiding emphasis of positions either to the political left or right, emphasizing, rather, the breadth and variety of minority opinion as it has influenced by the course of human events. Though alike in that they may be regarded as dissenters, the men and women whose ideas and exploits are recorded here include a number of widely differing human types. They illustrate what Pascal called "the glory and the baseness in men."

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 1971

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very glad that I picked this up on a whim from The Strand's discount section. I really appreciate the breadth and diversity of the selections chosen and look forward to reading more from some of the writers chosen. It would be impossible to summarize my thoughts on the entire collection, but to give an attempt at it; each piece is indicative of their unique historical moments without ultimately limiting their applicability to current struggles against the status quo. Because of this it was very rewarding to recognize references that call back to previous selections that before reading this collection I would not have picked up upon. In a similar sense of historical continuity, I found it hard not to think of the protests against the Palestinian genocide while reading this. Below I will but some of my favorite and least favorite sections:

Favorites:
The Jews of York: Mass Suicide - an excellent showcase of how history is often misinterpreted or ignored to suit the ends of those in power
Thoreau: Dissent as a Duty - as the first American writer featured it was extra satisfying to read a contemporary dissenter to aspects of my country's history (slavery, Mexican American war)
Emma Goldman: Testament of an American Anarchist - perhaps this is also American bias but Goldman writes with such a frank, modern tone that it was hard not to be enjoy it.
Perpetual Revolution: A Guerilla War against the Establishment - Marcuse is someone I haven't read since college and now I want to actively seek his work out (no matter how difficult to read it will be for me)

Least favorites:
Nietzsche: Transvaluation of Western Values - I found this to be very elitist, albeit purposefully so. I cannot agree with the whole ubermensch concept so his whole argument falls apart for me.
Ayn Rand: Altruism Condemned - For similar reasons to Nietzsche (the thread is certainly there) I hated this. Rand version of utopia is hate and misery behind the guise of money