"Wise and irresistibly human..."
Mathew Lasar, Author, Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network

"I had planned to only skim... but I found myself drawn into it so much so that I read just about all of it. Bill Mandel is well known for his courageous defiance of HUAC witch-hunters, but his autobiography also reveals his decades-long commitment to anti-racist struggles, such as his defense of Angelo Herndon, Paul Robeson, the Martinsville Seven, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois and black political prisoners including Mumia Abu Jamal."

"We are in serious need of the stories of those who challenged authority, those dissenters whose words and actions kept alive the hopes and dreams that we might build a just society, a peaceful world. Bill Mandel's autobiography arrives to help us fulfill that need.

"While the Twenties were, and still are, portrayed as 'The Jazz Age,' a time of prosperity for all, ten-year old Bill Mandel knew different, and collected money in the New York subway for the starving children of miners on strike. Part of his youth was spent in the Soviet Union where his father had taken a job as an engineer, and his knowledge of Russia and the Russian language enabled him later to become an expert on Russia and its history.

"As always in the history of the United States, its greatness rested not in its wealth or power, but in the courage of those people who continued to insist that the principles of the declaration of Independence be fulfilled - the equal right of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"In that long struggle, the ideas and actions of people like Bill Mandel have played an important part. His life story is not only dramatic, but instructive and inspiring."