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Loading... Sacco & Vanzettiby Nicola Sacco, John Davis (Editor), Bartolomeo Vanzetti
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The trial judge called them "anarchistic bastards." Political activists, Italian-born Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were framed and executed for murder in a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria in Boston in the 1920s. By illustrating how anarchists and immigrants were the "terrorists" of yesteryear, this book is a grim reminder of the consequences of using fear as a political weapon. Eventually pardoned in 1977 by Governor Dukakis, Sacco and Vanzetti's case sparked an unprecedented international defense campaign--including among it's supporters writers, artists, and musicians--and remains one of the most famous political trials in history. "[Vanzetti] loved his adopted country, but his hatred of war was greater than his devotion to an abstraction."--William Kunstler (U.S. civil rights lawyer) No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.152309227447Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Offenses against persons Homicide Murder History, geographic treatment, biography BiographyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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"Sacco and Vanzetti: Rebel Lives" is a collection of letters, articles, essays, and poems related to the Sacco and Vanzetti case. Editor John Davis opens the volume with a 13-page introduction, with the remaining 110 pages of documents arranged in four sections. The first, "The Shoemaker and the Fish-Peddler", includes 15 letters written by Sacco, Vanzetti, or both, to their supporters, friends, families, and executioners. Part two, "The Cause Celebre", includes eight contemporary articles and statements on their case (all defending Sacco and Vanzetti) by famous commentators including Eugene V. Debs, James P. Cannon, Anatole France, and John Dos Passos.
The third section, "Law versus Justice", presents more technical details of the case and the associated miscarriages of justice, through articles by Felix Frankfurter, H. G. Wells, and others. The final part deals with "The Legacy" of the case, and includes essays by Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, and Howard Zinn, along with the text of a speech by Juliet Ucelli commemorating the 75th anniversary of the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. Each of the four sections opens with a poem about the Sacco and Vanzetti affair, which helps illustrate the profound impact the case has had on art, culture and memory.
Although I found this collection of documents interesting and enlightening, there were a few features of it that grated on me. In the letters by Sacco and Vanzetti, editor John Davis does not correct spelling or grammar, explaining that he wants to give the reader a sense of the frustration Sacco and Vanzetti must have felt trying to communicate in a foreign language. While that may be a laudable goal, I found that the resulting style got exceedingly tedious after a while. Even though Sacco and Vanzetti's innocence is common knowledge, I was annoyed that convincing evidence that they were in fact innocent was not presented until the third part of the book, well after a good deal of rhetoric that takes their innocence for granted.
Despite those criticisms, this volume is a good, slim introduction to primary sources relating to the Sacco and Vanzetti case. As with all the Rebel Lives books, this volume may also be of special interest to teachers looking for primary sources on the case and its victims. ( )