WHITEWASHED DAYS OF RAGE TO IGNORE AMERICA'S LIE: EQUALITY AND JUSTICE

Bryan Burrough, Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence (New York: Penguin Press, 2015) (See Maurice Isserman, "Blow-Up," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/3/2015. The text lacks footnotes (that is, documentation or substantiation of facts). Burrough does not write objectively, doesn't even really try. Assuming Days of Rage provides a coherent narrative, there is little reason for treating it as the more or less balanced, let alone "correct" narrative. And, there is no effort to identify, suggest, or articulate opposing narratives. No deep analysis of the character or motivations of the players. The members of the underground come across as opportunistic, misguided, often spoiled white kids or simply angry black people, with a strong tendency toward playing with violence (violence as performance art). What is not here is any sense that mainstream American society was corrupt, that there might have been many things worthy of being angry about, and there might have been good reasons for not believing the normal political channels could be pursued to bring about constructive change. Stereotypical bad radicals. Stereotypical good establishment, good cops, etc., who, out of frustration, stress,  etc., --but with worthy intentions--simply overreach. Burrough's book should be titled, "Playing with Anarchy.').