My Account Wish List
Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.greenwood.com/catalog/C8506.aspx
All Greenwood Products
Liberties Lost The Endangered Legacy of the ACLU
Woody Klein
Foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

Introduction by Senator Robert C. Byrd

Afterword by Anthony Lewis
Book Code: C8506
ISBN: 0-275-98506-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98506-6
320 pages, 13 photos
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 5/30/2006
List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £27.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • This book is recommended reading for all students with an interest in the history of civil liberties. Klein, journalist and historian, has assembled the views of some 20 civil liberties experts in what is essentially a tribute to the late Roger Baldwin. Although not a biography in the strict sense, it amounts to a thorough analysis of Baldwin's works as a public man dedicated almost exclusively to the defense of civil liberties in the US....Recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through faculty.
    —Choice     May 2007
  • [A]n optomistic and affectionate narrative suggesting that the promise of the Bill of Rights can be fulfilled in ways that are relevant in 2007--in ways that alter the balance of power without dismantling the structure of government. The beauty of the narrative is that this pragmatic and conventional approach to social and legal change is presented in a convincing manner as a radical and subversive proposition. In that vein, I think this book would be a nice resource for undergraduates. I have found it to be instructive in my teaching of Civil Rights and Liberties this semester because of various anecdotes as well as the overriding themes that augment casebooks.
    —The Law and Politics Book Review     April 2007
  • In this timely book of writings, speeches and interviews of Roger Baldwin, founder and first director of the ACLU from 1920-1950, Woody Klein has woven together Baldwin's insights with comments on the state of civil liberties today from scholars, journalists, politicians and others, most of whom worked closely with Baldwin....Each chapter contains Baldwin's own observations on the importance of civil liberties in his time, which are as applicable today as when they were written, particularly with respect to civil liberties in the post-9/11 world.
    —Civil Liberties     Winter 2007
  • Journalist and historian Klein has collected those writings of American Civil Liberties Union founder Roger Nash Baldwin (1884-1981) that he feels are most pertinent to the current debates about civil liberties in the United States. Accompanying the eleven essays are commentaries by prominent figures in today's debates, including Senators Feingold, Leahy, Dodd, and Kennedy, as well as such writers and activists as Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff and the recently departed Rev. William Sloane Coffin. The essays provide autobiographical accounts of Baldwin's life and involvement in the ACLU and address issues which include civil liberties in wartime, the courts and equal justice, labor and civil liberties, education as the key to protecting liberty, liberalism and political change, liberty and the media, separation of church and state, and international law.
    —Reference & Research Book News     August 2006
  • Woody Klein's new book could not be more timely. Liberties Lost, The Endangered Legacy of the ACLU appears at a point in our nation's history when more and more of us are concerned about the Bush administration's tactics in the "War on Terror."...While it is clear that Klein takes a dim view of the present administration's approach to civil rights, his new book is about more than the Bush administration. It offers rare insights into the life and thought of the ACLU's founder from someone who knew him well. It also includes discussions of keystone events in our nation's history such as Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scopes "Monkey Trial," the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and McCarthyism....Whether you agree with Klein's analyses or not, his new book is food for thought and a celebration of free speech at a time when we need it most.
    —Westport News     June 2, 2006
  • Endorsement From Nat Hentoff
    Nationally known award-winning journalist, and civil liberties commentator:     Roger Baldwin once told me, 'No civil liberties battle is ever finally won.' We continue to learn this in Woody Klein's illuminating book on not only the past embattled history of the Bill of Rights--but also now on its grave peril.
  • Endorsement From Anthony Romero
    Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union:     Woody Klein's book on civil liberties, using Roger Baldwin's incisive writings as a guideline for the present and the future, is a contribution to the vital dialogue about the critical balance between civil liberties and national security today in America. I was glad to be a participant in this book.
  • Endorsement From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
    Delegate to the House of Representatives from Washington, D.C.:     No single person today has had the impact that Roger Baldwin had on civil liberties. He invented the idea of civil liberties as an issue. He made a major contribution through his key writings--published in Woody Klein's book--which are relevant today more than ever.
  • Endorsement From Bob Barr
    Former Republican Congressman:     Roger Baldwin and the ACLU were at the forefront of the push in the 1950s and 1960s to force the Supreme Court to say what until then was evident but unsaid: that the Constitution guaranteed all Americans the inalienable right to be left alone. Woody Klein's book containing Baldwin's incisive views on civil liberties is invaluable in these times.
  • Endorsement From John J. Simon
    President, Center for First Amendment Rights:     In these times of severe challenge to civil liberties--even by our own government--nothing could be more important than to bring to the reading public the writings of Roger Baldwin. This Woody Klein has done, and he also offers insights into how and why our civil liberties are slowly being eroded.
Description: "No fight for civil liberties ever stays won," wrote Roger Baldwin (1884-1981) in 1971. He was in a position to know. After working hard to preserve the right of Americans to free expression during World War I, he founded the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920. The ACLU quickly became, and remains to this day, the staunchest defender of American civil liberties. Woody Klein has selected from the vast writings of Baldwin those essays that are most pertinent to the civil liberties debate today. Each chapter offers writings that focus on a particular theme, such as national security or the invasion of privacy. Each is followed by commentary, commissioned specifically for this book, from some of America's most prominent politicians and journalists. The stellar contributors include :
  • Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Days, about the administration of John F. Kennedy;
  • Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), who has repeatedly spoken out in Congress against the war in Iraq and the U.S.A. Patriot Act;
  • Anthony Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times;
  • Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), who cast the Senate's lone vote against the U.S.A. Patriot Act;
  • Nat Henthoff, a nationally known award-winning journalist and columnist for the Village Voice
  • William Sloane Coffin Jr., clergyman and longtime peace activist;
  • Victor Navasky, editor and publisher of the Nation;
  • Ira Glasser, former Executive Director of the ACLU; and
  • Aryeh Neier, head of the Open Society Institute and the Soros Foundations network since 1993.
    • LC Card Number: 2006001242
    LCC Class: JC599
    Dewey Class: 323
    PDF Catalogs:
    Praeger Politics 2007.pdf
    All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2008 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
    88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571