Social Justice Book Reviews
Denis
O'Hearn's Nothing but an Unfinished Song and Nancy Altman's
The Battle for Social Security
Nothing But an Unfinished Song: Bobby Sands, The Irish
Hunger Striker Who Ignited A Generation
By Denis O’Hearn. Published by Nation Books, an imprint of
Avalon Publishing Group. 2006. 385 pages. $28.00.
“If you remember nothing else, remember this. No crime
a man commits on his behalf of his freedom can be as great as the
crimes committed by those who deny his freedom.” (p.
191)
Denis O’Hearn’s recent book focuses on the life and
death of hunger striker Bobby Sands. O’Hearn details the courage
and dignity of Sands as he matured into a man willing to die for
his freedom.
This biography travels from Bobby Sands' formative years as a
soccer player in a neighborhood rife with conflict between the Catholic
and Protestant communities to his radical involvement in the IRA,
subsequent imprisonment, and maturation into a political activist,
poet, intellectual, and martyr--and all of these later roles occurring
while in jail, refusing to be broken down by horrendous conditions.
If one is looking for a book explaining the historical context
behind the conflict in Northern Ireland, one will not find it here.
But, one will experience a riveting account of one man’s bravery
and strength in the face of a heartless environment. O’Hearn
does a fantastic job of detailing the life of Sands with supplemental
evidence from interviews and Sands’ own poems and activist
writing.
“All things must come to pass as one
So hope shall never die.
There is no height or bloody might
That a freeman can’t defy.
There is no source or foreign force
Can break one man who knows,
That his free-will no thing can kill
And from that freedom grows.” (p.140)
O’Hearn has written quite a moving account of the incredible
will of Bobby Sands, standing as a testament to the strength of
the human soul under extreme duress.
In light of the recently surfaced reports from Guantanamo Bay
that up to 200 prisoners are conducting a hunger strike with around
twenty prisoners being force-fed through tubes just to keep them
alive without the assistance of anesthesia or muscle relaxants,
O’Hearn’s book could not have come at a more apt time.
If nothing else, these reports give us an even more compelling reason
to read about Bobby Sands, his legacy, and our call to action.
For more on the hunger strikes:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/02/17/un.guantanamo/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4697184.stm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/guantanamo-bay_detainees.htm
*
The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision
to Bush’s Gamble
By Nancy J. Altman. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2005. 317 pages.
$24.95 USA.
Nancy J. Altman’s recent book cataloguing the history of
Social Security from the late nineteenth century up through present-day
policy suggestions is an extensive and thoroughly-researched approach
tackling the daunting political and social implications of the Social
Security program. As the current Chairman of the Board of Directors
of the Pension Rights Center and a former advisor to Social Security
issues and assistant to Alan Greenspan, it is clear that Ms. Altman
is well versed on the complicated topic. Her book expresses her
political views as well and does not shy away from voicing criticisms
of the current Bush Administration’s and previous administrations’
policy suggestions for Social Security.
That being said, Ms. Altman’s book runs the risk of social
security detail overload. Rather than recounting historical facts
concisely and with editorial prudence, what follows are 317 pages
of the politics and political personalities surrounding decisions
regarding social policy. This over-detailed account of Social Security’s
formation, controversy, and present-day conditions will bore any
reader who is not an avid political scientist or historian. The
casual reader looking to learn more about the debate behind Social
Security will find the answers in this book, but only after sifting
through pages and pages of fully detailed accounts of which senator
from where said what about the program and why he said what he did
and what the repercussions were because of what he said and which
party and specific representative got angry about the statement
and why said senator’s suggestion was vetoed or enacted and
on what day this occurred and whether it was sunny out that day
and what he ate for breakfast before beginning his filibuster, ad
infinitum.
On the bright side, the reader’s confidence in Ms. Altman’s
authority on Social Security is paramount for exactly the same reason
it bores him. The reader trusts her opinion because it is so detailed
and steeped in historical context. After reading, readers now realize
that Social Security has been an oft-debated topic along party lines
since its inception.
As far as making a current judgment about policy-makers’
opinions on Social Security in the twenty-first century, one should
best flip to the second to last chapter (Chapter 16) where President
Bush’s proposal is counter-posed to Altman’s advocacy
for the Ball/Altman Proposal. This is the most efficient chapter
precisely because it is succinct and omits a good portion of that
political party fluff surrounding every decision made in Washington.
So to be succinct in my own conclusion, this book is an informative
must-read for those interested in sifting through a highly-detailed
account of the historical and political factors at play in Social
Security program over the past century and a half. But, the reader
looking for a brief overview of Social Security and the current
partisan debate had best read chapters one, two, and sixteen, or
rather, look elsewhere.
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