Vietdamned: How the Worlds Greatest Minds Put America on Trial

(Hardback, Main)

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Guilty: the conclusion of many trials. But this verdict was unusual, delivered by a jury comprising of the greatest minds of the twentieth century: Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, James Baldwin and Stokely Carmichael, and over a dozen international luminaries - all presided over by the legendary philosopher-mathematician Bertrand Russell. The defendant was unusual, too: the United States government.In Vietdamned, award-winning historian Clive Webb reveals the extraordinary, little-known history of the 1967 Russell Tribunal and its attempt to hold the US government to account for atrocities committed during the Vietnam War. What they revealed shocked the world. In a revolutionary decade, these celebrity intellectuals put their careers and reputations at stake - and faced fierce opposition from the media, governments and the CIA.Vietdamned is both a history of the anti-war movement and a story of the power (and limits) of celebrity, cover-ups and abuses of government.

Reviews

Vietdamned is many things at once: a wonderfully well-told story rich with personal and political drama; an outstanding piece of scholarship informed by deep research and fine historical judgement; and a sensitive meditation on the moral demands of the individual conscience confronted by terrible injustice and human suffering -- Hugh Wilford, author * The CIA: An Imperial History *
Long overlooked by historians of the Vietnam War, the Russell Tribunal is, in Clive Webb's expert hands, brought vividly to life. Featuring an extraordinary cast of characters, organisational and governmental machinations, and searing testimony about American war crimes in Southeast Asia, Vietdamned makes for an immersive and compelling read. At a time when speaking truth to power has never been more important, this book resonates powerfully -- Simon Hall, author * Ten Days in Harlem: Fidel Castro and the Making of the 1960s *

Author Bio

Clive Webb is an award-winning historian and Professor of Modern American History at the University of Sussex. He has written for the Guardian, Independent and The New York Times, among other publications. He has also contributed to news programmes and documentaries on radio and television in Britain and the US.