A unique and timeless guide to American government and its electoral
process - as relevant today as when it was first published in 1972 -
from the voice of Black consciousness, cultural icon Dick Gregory, the
incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health
advocate, social justice champion, and author of the NAACP Image
Award-winning Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the
Lies and the classic best seller Nigger: An Autobiography.
For most of his life, Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory worked to educate
Americans about the issues - and the forces of power - shaping their
lives. A brilliant and informed student of the American experiment, he
viewed and understood politics with an acuity few possess. Nearly 50
years ago, on the eve of Richard M. Nixon's reelection, he wrote a
classic guide to the American political system for ordinary folks.
Today, when American democracy is threatened, his primer is more
necessary than ever before.
In Dick Gregory's Political Primer, Gregory presents a series of
lessons accompanied by review questions to educate and empower every
citizen. He provides amusing, concise, and clear information and
commentary on the nature of political parties, the three branches of
government and how they operate, how the campaign process works and the
costs, and more. Gregory offers imaginative comparisons such as the
Hueys - Long, the populist Louisiana governor and Newton, the cofounder
of the Black Panthers - and numerological parallels between Abraham
Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. He also includes a trenchant glossary that
offers insights into some of the major players, terms, and institutions
integral to our democracy and government.
An essential guide to American history unlike any other, Dick Gregory's
Political Primer joins the ranks of classics such as Howard Zinn's A
People's History of the United States, and is essential listening for
every American.
