Climbin' Jacob's Ladder

"This book helps to set the record straight, not just through the facts of O'Dell's life, but through introducing the reader to O'Dell's powerful analysis."--Bill Fletcher Jr., coauthor of Solidarity Divided

"Jack O'Dell describes an 'easy journey. . .[and] an easy course' through his extraordinary life. But there was and is nothing easy about the roles Jack played--and continues to play--as strategist, tactician, mentor, and leader in so many campaigns for justice. As often behind the scenes as in front of the microphone, Jack fought for internationalism in the African-American freedom movement and held the internationalist movement accountable for fighting racism. Jack O'Dell resides among the greats in the pantheon of our movements and of our country. His words continue to shape our history."--Phyllis Bennis, author of Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power

"Jack O'Dell is one of the great unsung heroes of the Black Freedom Movement. Climbin' Jacob's Ladder offers a fascinating and inspiring chronicle of O'Dell's long career through his own writings. With a brilliant and exhaustive introduction by Nikhil Singh, one of the sharpest radical thinkers of his generation, this collection is a vital addendum and corrective to our existing knowledge of the 'long' Civil Rights Movement and its legacy."--Barbara Ransby, author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

Jack O'Dell was Editor of Freedomways, a legendary publication that from 1961-1985 published Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Pablo Neruda, and Alice Walker, among many others. Nikhil Pal Singh is Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University. He is the author of Black is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy.