This volume investigates why peasants defend themselves against the predations of politics by using such "everyday" forms of protest as footdragging, feigned ignorance, false compliance, etc. With a cross-section of countries, historical time periods, and ideologies, the case studies illustrate the variety of forms of everyday peasant resistance and their consequences.

A look at race relations in theUS during the first half of the 20th century, through the first two African-American heavyweight boxing champions, Jack Johnson and Joe Louis. Using the Black press of the time, the author explores how their public careers and private lives define and explain national issues from the early 1900s to the late 1940s.