Radicals in their Own Time
Four Hundred Years of Struggle for Liberty and Equal Justice in America

Explores the lives of five Americans who agitated for greater freedom in America, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and W. E. B. Du Bois.

Michael Anthony Lawrence (Author)

9780521187039, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 November 2010

408 pages, 26 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.55 kg

Radicals in Their Own Time explores the lives of five Americans, with lifetimes spanning four hundred years, who agitated for greater freedom in America. Every generation has them: individuals who speak truth to power and crave freedom from arbitrary authority. This book makes two important observations in discussing Roger Williams, Thomas Paine, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, W. E. B. Du Bois and Vine Deloria, Jr. First, each believed that government must broadly tolerate individual autonomy. Second, each argued that religious orthodoxy has been a major source of society's ills – and all endured serious negative repercussions for doing so. The book challenges Christian orthodoxy and argues that part of what makes these five figures compelling is their willingness to pay the price for their convictions – much to the lasting benefit of liberty and equal justice in America.

1. Roger Williams: freeborn
2. Thomas Paine: revolution
3. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: gender wars
4. W. E. B. Du Bois: American apartheid
5. Vine Deloria, Jr: betrayals and bridges.

Subject Areas: International law [LB], Politics & government [JP]