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American Time Bomb: Attica, Sam Melville, and a Son's Search for Answers
“ American Time Bomb is a vital read for this moment. ” —Heather Ann Thompson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Blood in the The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Few stories are more central to understanding our history of racially biased incarceration and violent social activism than the life of Sam Melville. Melville was both reviled and admired as one of the most feared radicals in post–World War II history. His importance in the 1960s is widely recognized by historians and scholars as epitomizing the controversies, the promise, and the problems of the New Left.
This memoir by Melville’s son opens a window into the personal life of a legend, revealing the universal and all-too-human foibles motivating those driven to make change through violence. In the current political climate, at the fiftieth anniversary of the Attica Uprising, this nation grows increasingly interested in the racially biased incarceration and violent social activism that has shaped our nation.
There are few stories more central to both subjects than the life of Sam Melville, who was often called “the Mad Bomber.” American Time Bomb is a son's personal portrait based on years of investigation of Melville's story and the history he helped to create.
Joshua Melville’s personal connection to the story gives a gut-wrenching multigenerational tale of childhood abandonment but also adds a compelling historical study of politics, history, and issues of social justice.
Few stories are more central to understanding our history of racially biased incarceration and violent social activism than the life of Sam Melville. Melville was both reviled and admired as one of the most feared radicals in post–World War II history. His importance in the 1960s is widely recognized by historians and scholars as epitomizing the controversies, the promise, and the problems of the New Left.
This memoir by Melville’s son opens a window into the personal life of a legend, revealing the universal and all-too-human foibles motivating those driven to make change through violence. In the current political climate, at the fiftieth anniversary of the Attica Uprising, this nation grows increasingly interested in the racially biased incarceration and violent social activism that has shaped our nation.
There are few stories more central to both subjects than the life of Sam Melville, who was often called “the Mad Bomber.” American Time Bomb is a son's personal portrait based on years of investigation of Melville's story and the history he helped to create.
Joshua Melville’s personal connection to the story gives a gut-wrenching multigenerational tale of childhood abandonment but also adds a compelling historical study of politics, history, and issues of social justice.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published September 7, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 9, 2021
This is an in-depth look at the author’s father and the life he chose over being with his son. A life of political activism, leading to actions that would land him at Attica prison. Sam Melville would come to be known as The Mad Bomber and his son Josh would spend years searching for the truth about his father’s death in Attica. A fascinating look at that period in history. Electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Joshua Melville, and the publisher.
October 9, 2021
American Time Bomb: Attica, Sam Melville, and a Son’s Search for Answers, Joshua Melville
A loving, meticulously researched journey taken by a son as he tries to find out who his father was and how and why he died in the Attica prison uprising of 1971. In the process, the author becomes a man he believes his father would be proud of.
Sam Melville was a left wing radical, who in the late 1960s, not only bombed several buildings in NYC in protest of the America he was living in, but also helped others plan and carry out bombings as well. He was a smart, charismatic, passionate man, angry about the Vietnam war and blatant racism against blacks and Latinos. Sadly, his activism and radicalism meant that he stopped seeing his son when the author was around 6 years old. When Joshua was 12, his father died during the famous Attica prisoner uprising.
Losing his father was hard on Joshua. Not knowing the real facts surrounding what radicalized his father, how he came to be know as “Mad Bomber Melville” and how and why he ended up dying in Attica where questions Joshua wanted answers to. When he was young, his mother told him lies to protect him and insulate him. But Joshua wanted to know how his father became one of the few white men either accidentally killed in Attica or assassinated because he was considered a dangerous agitator and a terrorist.
It took this driven son thirty years to compile enough law enforcement files, pictures, interviews with his father’s leftist friends, cohorts, police and FBI, time spent sitting through a trial for damages for survivor prisoners and families of those killed, and much more, including building a family of his own, for him to feel ready to write a book about what kind of man his father was and what happened to him at Attica.
Sam Melville was an intriguing guy. Trained as an engineer, good at whatever he did, he was well respected among his peers and well liked by most. In order for him to pursue his goal of overthrowing what he believed was a fascist government, he had to leave his wife, only child and steady job behind. It meant being a real part of the radical 60’s scene, which for him included being friends with the Black Panthers and the large activist Latino group of the time. It also meant figuring out ways to make his anger at government leadership (the Nixon administration) known. Hence he became Mad Bomber Melville.
While Joshua is pursuing his father’s ghost, and the meaning of Sam’s short life, he himself is growing up and trying to figure out who he is in all of this. Joshua clashes often with his mother, who does not want him researching his dad and interacting with the old hippie crowd. That doesn’t stop him. Yet his father’s persona and world view does have a huge influence on the author as he is learning about his father’s life while creating his own. Joshua tries to live in a way that would make his father proud, pursuing a career in music. All the while the author knows he is being watched by the FBI simply because he is his father’s son. Quite ironic.
Joshua takes you through his father’s time becoming a bomb maker and bomb user by highlighting interviews with the people who surrounded Sam and the FBI and local police who watched and tried to catch him. Joshua presents the reader with a combination of personal accounts and narratives composed of many sources, interspersed with stories about how he himself is doing the research, and how it effects his personal life. It all works, especially as you get to the Attica uprising, one of the most famous and violent prison rebellions in history.
Through his years of researching Sam Melville’s role at Attica, the author has found that his father has been erased from his place in the rebellion by the movies and TV drama’s made about what happened there. Joshua wishes to give his father his rightful place in that particular historic event. While serving an 18 year sentence for conspiracy, Sam was know for bridging all races and bringing them together at the prison. He was respected as a teacher and friend and feared for the way he fought for his and other prisoner’s rights.
I acknowledge that this is a son’s perception created by pulling out information that supports what he may want to believe his father to have been. But, there is a ton of source material to support his perspective of the man he believes his father was, along with a wide range of friends, ex prisoners, lawyers, and others who continuously told Joshua over the years that he should be proud of who his father was. We need to remember that the late 60’s were a different time and people fought “the man” in differing ways then. The radical left, the Yippies, the Weathermen and the Black Panthers all believed that the only way they could get people to listen to their demands was through violent acts. And, prison reform was at it’s inception (and still lags in so many terrible ways).
The best part of the book is that, even though he never got to know his father as an adult, the years and years Joshua spent painstakingly searching for him by talking to others, reading about him, and thinking about him, helped the author find the answers he needed, and helped him find the man he himself wanted to be. This is an exceptional way for the search for the truth about a lost father to work out.
If you are at all interested in the radical left movements of the late 60’s, or what happened at Attica prison in September of 1971, Joshua Melville has pulled together lots of information on the bravery of the inmates and the cruelty of the prison leadership, the state troopers and NY’s governor at the time. You will learn a huge amount, not only about the brave and interesting Mad Bomber Melville, but also about many other courageous prison activists at Attica. You will also be reminded of what it was like to be young and finding yourself in the 80s. Quite the wild but ultimately positive ride.
A loving, meticulously researched journey taken by a son as he tries to find out who his father was and how and why he died in the Attica prison uprising of 1971. In the process, the author becomes a man he believes his father would be proud of.
Sam Melville was a left wing radical, who in the late 1960s, not only bombed several buildings in NYC in protest of the America he was living in, but also helped others plan and carry out bombings as well. He was a smart, charismatic, passionate man, angry about the Vietnam war and blatant racism against blacks and Latinos. Sadly, his activism and radicalism meant that he stopped seeing his son when the author was around 6 years old. When Joshua was 12, his father died during the famous Attica prisoner uprising.
Losing his father was hard on Joshua. Not knowing the real facts surrounding what radicalized his father, how he came to be know as “Mad Bomber Melville” and how and why he ended up dying in Attica where questions Joshua wanted answers to. When he was young, his mother told him lies to protect him and insulate him. But Joshua wanted to know how his father became one of the few white men either accidentally killed in Attica or assassinated because he was considered a dangerous agitator and a terrorist.
It took this driven son thirty years to compile enough law enforcement files, pictures, interviews with his father’s leftist friends, cohorts, police and FBI, time spent sitting through a trial for damages for survivor prisoners and families of those killed, and much more, including building a family of his own, for him to feel ready to write a book about what kind of man his father was and what happened to him at Attica.
Sam Melville was an intriguing guy. Trained as an engineer, good at whatever he did, he was well respected among his peers and well liked by most. In order for him to pursue his goal of overthrowing what he believed was a fascist government, he had to leave his wife, only child and steady job behind. It meant being a real part of the radical 60’s scene, which for him included being friends with the Black Panthers and the large activist Latino group of the time. It also meant figuring out ways to make his anger at government leadership (the Nixon administration) known. Hence he became Mad Bomber Melville.
While Joshua is pursuing his father’s ghost, and the meaning of Sam’s short life, he himself is growing up and trying to figure out who he is in all of this. Joshua clashes often with his mother, who does not want him researching his dad and interacting with the old hippie crowd. That doesn’t stop him. Yet his father’s persona and world view does have a huge influence on the author as he is learning about his father’s life while creating his own. Joshua tries to live in a way that would make his father proud, pursuing a career in music. All the while the author knows he is being watched by the FBI simply because he is his father’s son. Quite ironic.
Joshua takes you through his father’s time becoming a bomb maker and bomb user by highlighting interviews with the people who surrounded Sam and the FBI and local police who watched and tried to catch him. Joshua presents the reader with a combination of personal accounts and narratives composed of many sources, interspersed with stories about how he himself is doing the research, and how it effects his personal life. It all works, especially as you get to the Attica uprising, one of the most famous and violent prison rebellions in history.
Through his years of researching Sam Melville’s role at Attica, the author has found that his father has been erased from his place in the rebellion by the movies and TV drama’s made about what happened there. Joshua wishes to give his father his rightful place in that particular historic event. While serving an 18 year sentence for conspiracy, Sam was know for bridging all races and bringing them together at the prison. He was respected as a teacher and friend and feared for the way he fought for his and other prisoner’s rights.
I acknowledge that this is a son’s perception created by pulling out information that supports what he may want to believe his father to have been. But, there is a ton of source material to support his perspective of the man he believes his father was, along with a wide range of friends, ex prisoners, lawyers, and others who continuously told Joshua over the years that he should be proud of who his father was. We need to remember that the late 60’s were a different time and people fought “the man” in differing ways then. The radical left, the Yippies, the Weathermen and the Black Panthers all believed that the only way they could get people to listen to their demands was through violent acts. And, prison reform was at it’s inception (and still lags in so many terrible ways).
The best part of the book is that, even though he never got to know his father as an adult, the years and years Joshua spent painstakingly searching for him by talking to others, reading about him, and thinking about him, helped the author find the answers he needed, and helped him find the man he himself wanted to be. This is an exceptional way for the search for the truth about a lost father to work out.
If you are at all interested in the radical left movements of the late 60’s, or what happened at Attica prison in September of 1971, Joshua Melville has pulled together lots of information on the bravery of the inmates and the cruelty of the prison leadership, the state troopers and NY’s governor at the time. You will learn a huge amount, not only about the brave and interesting Mad Bomber Melville, but also about many other courageous prison activists at Attica. You will also be reminded of what it was like to be young and finding yourself in the 80s. Quite the wild but ultimately positive ride.
October 23, 2021
Weathermen and Attica
A son whose father died in the Attica Prison Riots tries to find out more about him. A Weatherman who participated in about 10 bombings around the country and was arrested and convicted. The son interviews people, looks at court records and reads books to get a better understanding. My problem was in the writing of the book which I felt was uninteresting and a slog. I want to read more books about Attica. I remember reading about it in the newspaper as a kid and later during the civil trial. Also some TV clips. This author apparently has filmed a documentary too.
A son whose father died in the Attica Prison Riots tries to find out more about him. A Weatherman who participated in about 10 bombings around the country and was arrested and convicted. The son interviews people, looks at court records and reads books to get a better understanding. My problem was in the writing of the book which I felt was uninteresting and a slog. I want to read more books about Attica. I remember reading about it in the newspaper as a kid and later during the civil trial. Also some TV clips. This author apparently has filmed a documentary too.
July 24, 2021
The book is adequately written and many of its sins can be forgiven in light of the fact that the author is biased as the son of the infamous 60's bomber Sam Melville, who made and deployed explosives throughout New York City in the 1960's. But, what the world doesn't need is a paean to a man who having failed in his career and his marriage sought to redeem himself by adopting the faux persona of a social activist and employed violence to compensate for the inadequacies of his own life experience. The book slogs through the details of the elder Melville's "awakening" as an "activist" and the tedium of his romantic relationships with the women that enabled him, before finally delving into Melville's catastrophic role in the Attica uprising. The author suggests conspiracies afoot involving the New York State Governor, the armed police and the prison's guards which ultimately led to the death of Melville. One can feel a sense of pity for the author and understand his lack of objectivity, but we should be careful not to make martyrs out of those who see death or destruction as the roads to meaningful change.
December 28, 2022
This is a fascinating read. We follow a young man that never knew his father other than what other people have told him. 'He was a hero' and 'He was a dangerous man' are things he heard constantly. I loved watching him unravel the truth and use it to heal open wounds and break the cycle of absent fathers. I have heard and know a little about the Attica Prison uprising but, as it is mentioned by the author, his father is completely ignored in most retellings. It was interesting to see a different side to everything. I also liked seeing the politics of the anti-war/hippie movement of the 70s. I was deluded in thinking that everyone was working together peacefully to rebel against the war hungry government. It's been proven time and time again that humans prefer to cater to themselves and their ego first. Overall, this was a well written and deeply personal read. I think everyone interested in things like Woodstock, the hippies and the Black Panthers should check this book out.
June 25, 2024
A son looking for answers about his father who was put into prison in the sixties and just wants to find the truth. He is also finding out that it is tied to the Attica prison riot and that his father was not the one that the police and others said he was. Speaking with ex-prisoners and people that were with his father at that time he discovers a different man than he was led to believe. He goes through government records to see what they have and after talking with others he finds that his father's history was wiped out at the prison. He gets to at least change the way he sees his father and in this book as well. Though when all of this was going on I was just seeing things on TV and everything was so different back then as well. I enjoyed this book and I know this review might not make sense but I did find it interesting and I found out much more about Attica which put that into perspective as well, very much worth the read.
January 23, 2022
I won a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways and am voluntarily leaving a review.
There is a lot to American Time Bomb. It is a memoir, a true-crime investigation, a primer on race relations and a look into revolutionary activities in the 60s, with a little bit of Communism thrown in. Somehow, in under 300 pages, Joshua Melville makes this cohere into a fascinating narratives of twists and turns, with a relatively neat solution. The book is unsettling, though, for as many reasons as there are parts to it. It’s hard to come away from it feeling any sense of closure or real understanding; it feels like nearly everyone has an axe to grind, the author included, and the truth is always glimmering frustratingly out of reach. Still, it’s a good book and worth the read.
There is a lot to American Time Bomb. It is a memoir, a true-crime investigation, a primer on race relations and a look into revolutionary activities in the 60s, with a little bit of Communism thrown in. Somehow, in under 300 pages, Joshua Melville makes this cohere into a fascinating narratives of twists and turns, with a relatively neat solution. The book is unsettling, though, for as many reasons as there are parts to it. It’s hard to come away from it feeling any sense of closure or real understanding; it feels like nearly everyone has an axe to grind, the author included, and the truth is always glimmering frustratingly out of reach. Still, it’s a good book and worth the read.
May 22, 2025
absolutely baffling politics from joshua
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews