Reviews for Superfluous Words

The average rating for Superfluous Words based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-20 00:00:00 Robert Allgood I'm not one who likes autobiographies because I know there's a revisionist tendency in even the best of us. Here, too, is the case, but Ameringer (sounds like "Hammerslinger") gives release to his puckish personality in such a way that his taller tales made me laugh out loud (like crashing a Prussian royal wedding) and even in laughter, made me think hard on the points he made, as he joked about the meal he made for bedbugs to describe the living conditions of Oklahoma farmers he gathered together in protest of the conditions bankers and landlords placed them through dishonest dealing. The introduction by Carl Sandburg was an absolute surprise and I didn't know they were friends. Ameringer has very kind words for his contemporaries: Gene Debs, Kate Richards O'Hare, Victor Berger, Carl Sandburg... three of these people were imprisoned by then President Wilson for sedition (in Debs' case, trumped up espionage charges, shades of today's administration's take on whistle blowers). His thoughts on how racism undermined workers' rights are on point to this very day. As are his notions of Socialist reformation from Marxism to Berger's idea of "whatever is good for all people, everywhere." His description of Berger reminded me of a certain senator from Vermont. All in all, Oscar Ameringer, if I could describe him to a person with little notion of how important the editorialist was to working folks of exactly a century ago, would point to Stephen Colbert during the George W. Bush presidency. His Adam Coaldigger persona, a humorous contrast to Colbert's faux conservative: using, by example a character to point out the nation's troubles with sharply critical jokes still funny enough to keep us from despairing. I've read so many excellent books this year, but this is the first one I immediately bought after reading (it was borrowed from the library, which in turn borrowed it from a university - hard one to track down, apparently, and that's a shame because I think everyone I know should read this one).

Review # 2 was written on 2011-06-08 00:00:00 Victoria Dunn Quick! Name every notable person that was born in Kansas you can think of. You probably thought of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Carrie Nation and possibly the founder of Pizza Hut. Sorry if you said John Brown or Dorothy Gale. John Brown wasn't born in Kansas and Dorothy Gale isn't real. However, you probably didn't think of one of the founders of the American Communist Party. In the book, Earl Browder: The Failure of American Communism by James G. Ryan, you get a real zero to hero story; if your definition of a hero is a commie. Earl Browder was born in Wichita, Kansas. He was the youngest of eight children. As a young child, he was drawn towards radical parties. He felt that the power should go to the workers, thus he was drawn to Socialism. He joined the American Socialist party when he was just 15. All of the 15-year-olds I know haven't done anything significant in their life. The Socialist Party was against war. Browder and many other Socialists were sent to prison for refusing the draft. While he was in prison, the American Communist Party was formed. When he was released, he left behind his family, moved to New York and joined the party. He instantly started working his way up until he eventually became the leader of the Communist Party. This book is very difficult to read. I would not recommend it unless you already have an understanding on what Communism is. I had a very hard time getting through it. I needed to stop multiple times whilst reading to research what something meant or to ask my dad about it. My dad wrote an article that included Earl Browder and he only read through the first chapter. With that aside, it's a very interesting read. I wouldn't advise reading it in high school though. You should probably wait until your later college years to read it. It's a very academic book. It's just straight up facts, no comedy. It would be great if you were doing a research project on early Communism in America. However, as I stated earlier, I would advise having some form of prior knowledge on the subject before attempting to read this. So overall, I would give this book a 4/5. It was very interesting but incredibly difficult. I would recommend it to any college student interested in learning about Communism, or just an interesting person from Kansas (because there seems to be a lack of those.)