American Time Bomb, Joshua Melville
American Time Bomb, Joshua Melville
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American Time Bomb
Attica, Sam Melville, and a Son’s Search for Answers

Author: Joshua Melville

Narrator: Joshua Melville

Unabridged: 10 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 09/07/2021


Synopsis

September 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Attica Uprising, and few stories are more central to understanding our history of racially biased incarceration and violent social activism than the life of Sam Melville

Few stories are more central to understanding our history of racially biased incarceration and violent social activism than the life of Sam Melville. Melville was both reviled and admired as one of the most feared radicals in post–World War II
history. His importance in the 1960s is widely recognized by historians and scholars as epitomizing the controversies, the promise, and the problems of the New Left. This memoir by Melville's son opens a window into the personal life of a
legend, revealing the universal and all-too-human foibles motivating those driven to make change through violence. In the current political climate, at the fiftieth anniversary of the Attica Uprising, this nation grows increasingly interested in the
racially biased incarceration and violent social activism that has shaped our nation. There are few stories more central to both subjects than the life of Sam Melville, who was often called "the Mad Bomber." American Time Bomb is a son's
personal portrait based on years of investigation of Melville's story and the history he helped to create. Joshua Melville's personal connection to the story gives a gut-wrenching multigenerational tale of childhood abandonment but also adds a
compelling historical study of politics, history, and issues of social justice.

Reviews

This is an in-depth look at the author’s father and the life he chose over being with his son. A life of political activism, leading to actions that would land him at Attica prison. Sam Melville would come to be known as The Mad Bomber and his son Josh would spend years searching for the truth about......more

Goodreads review by Johanna

American Time Bomb: Attica, Sam Melville, and a Son’s Search for Answers, Joshua Melville A loving, meticulously researched journey taken by a son as he tries to find out who his father was and how and why he died in the Attica prison uprising of 1971. In the process, the author becomes a man he beli......more

Goodreads review by Lynn

Weathermen and Attica A son whose father died in the Attica Prison Riots tries to find out more about him. A Weatherman who participated in about 10 bombings around the country and was arrested and convicted. The son interviews people, looks at court records and reads books to get a better understan......more

Goodreads review by Sridhar

The book is adequately written and many of its sins can be forgiven in light of the fact that the author is biased as the son of the infamous 60's bomber Sam Melville, who made and deployed explosives throughout New York City in the 1960's. But, what the world doesn't need is a paean to a man who ha......more

Goodreads review by patrick

A son looking for answers about his father who was put into prison in the sixties and just wants to find the truth. He is also finding out that it is tied to the Attica prison riot and that his father was not the one that the police and others said he was. Speaking with ex-prisoners and people that......more