Bill Ayers To Publish Graphic Novel

Teachers College Press, a scholarly, professional and trade publisher focused on the theory and practice of teacher education, has reached agreement on a two-book deal with William Ayers, the University of Illinois at Chicago professor, lauded educational theorist and former leader of the radical 1960s Weather Underground. And, yes, Ayers is indeed the same figure dragooned into the 2008 presidential race in a controversial attempt to use his background in radical politics and a minor acquaintance with Barack Obama to undermine Obama's presidential run.

In spring 2010, TCP will publish a graphic novel adaptation of To Teach: The Journey, a much-praised memoir of Ayers's life as a teacher, tentatively to be called To Teach: The Graphic Memoir with art by Xeric Award-winner Ryan Alexander-Tanner. More than a simple memoir, To Teach is also a peer-reviewed work of scholarship on Ayers's teaching precepts as well as a vivid recollection of his adventures in the classroom. At the same time, TCP will publish a new and revised third edition of the original prose To Teach: The Journey. One of TCP's all-time bestselling titles, To Teach was originally published in 1993 and has sold more than 75,000 copies over three printings, the last one released in 2001.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[rayanthony]

"the University of Illinois at Chicago professor"?

How about home grown terrorist? How about the man who put a bomb on the bottom of a judges car. Thank God a neighbor spotted the bomb before it went off. A man with children! Not to mention the bomb at the same mans home that did go off.

Disagree with the war if you will, but should you attempt to kill police in order to get your point across?

"but he didn't kill anyone" HE GOT LUCKY!!!

HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT NEXT TO Timothy Mcveigh!!

[AERO]

Ayers is going to publish a graphic novel. Does that mean he's become a Republican?

[dillydawg]

I'll try and be the first one o line to buy it.

[mimigrammy]

I look forward to reading it. Like me, he lived in graphic times.

[citizensrus]

Vietnam was a bad war. Everyone, even Kissinger, now agree that Vietnam was a bad war. We have audio of Johnson talking about how those responsible for keeping the war going know that there is no way it could be won. That is the reality..i­t could not be won. We sacrificed enough for a war that was not 'our war'. Wars are way for the armament industry to make money. Where are the dividends if they can't conjure up a war somewhere to sell munitions?
Sometimes, some people, see injustice and try to fight injustice with peaceful marches. Ghandi. Sometimes it works. Other times, there are those that feel the John Brown route is the only answer. Ayers says he never targeted anything but buildings. The loss of life was not murder, it was not intentional, it was a tragedy. The times..you had to understand the times to understand Ayers. I'm not condoning Ayers. I wasn't even here during the peak of the vietnam protests. We were in the military then and fighting that war overseas that Dick Cheney could not be bothered to fight in because he had more important things to do.

[rayanthony]

He blew up buildings with people in them. "Gosh, I hope this one doesn't kill anyone"

By the way, he did put on bomb on the underside of a judges car

[PlaceboStudman]

Even though I was just barely born near the end of Vietnam, I happened to be born in Bangkok Thailand, and born with Spina Bifida, which some research links to an exposure to Agent Orange in SouthEast Asia. Furthermore, I went to Kent State University, and was exposed every day to the education of May 4th, 1970 and the atrocities committed during vietnam.

As far as I'm concerned, Ayers should be held up as a hero, like many other anti-war protesters of the time, and anyone who actively protests war and violence with actions, not just meaningless words on a blog site.

Remember, folks, this country we live in was founded in acts of (mostly non-violent) terrorism that have helped us call attention to the injustices of the world. Or have we all forgot our Revolutionary and Civil War history??

[duchamp2008]

Ayers is no more than a left-wing version of Joe the Plumber. He is certainly not a person to be taken seriously by anyone. But he does have entertainment value as a C level celebrity. Perhaps he has Joe the P.'s agent now; I'll bet a sweet record deal lies in the future for Professor Ayers.

[luke150]

Comparing the Plumber with the Ph.D. is not fair... for the plumber.

[duchamp2008]

I think Ayers and Joe the P. share a lot in common. Both have nonsensical ideas about politics, both appear buffoonish during appearances on TV. Both are looking to cash in on the media spotlight that was directed at them for no good reason during the electoral campaign. And both inspire me to laughter. Ergo...

[swo68]

Maybe they should go on tour together.

[cindyfromfalls]

I am so confused by the fact that since Ayers came onto the scene the bloggers here have been so hateful towards him. Was no one here around in the Vietnam era? I was and I remember the horror and rage felt by those of us who saw the folly of that war and endured the slaughter of those we loved. If you are against the war in Iraq I would think you could respect this man who did what he could to bring an end to the Iraq of my generation. That war ended, in part, because of people like him and the anti-war movements he fomented on college campuses across the country. He has gone on to be a much admired and heralded educator and yet is criticized for that as well. I understand the right wing reaction but I do not understand how my fellow progressives can be so reactionary.

[PlaceboStudman]

You hit the nail on the head. If my instincts are correct, many and even the majority of HuffPo readers and contributors likely weren't alive, or at least weren't old enough to remember Vietnam and the age of Rebellion.
They are barraged by the word "terrorism", and see the atrocities of 9/11, and assume that no act of rebellion is seen as a potentially positive thing. They don't know nor understand the history of true radical progressive movements, all of which had their violent tendencies, stemming back to The Boston Tea Party and the beginning of The Revolution.

People in America are just too lazy and apathetic to care about having their righftul say in what is going on in the world, and those few who do know and care about what's going on in the world are too scared and too sheltered to use their anger and dissent in truly pro-active ways, and actually go out and physically demonstrate. Instead choosing to use the internet and propoganda to get across a message.

I am reminded of the saying "sticks and stones may break bones, but words can never hurt me", and people are far too convinced that words are the best solution, when in fact sometimes we need sticks and stones to get our point across

[cindyfromfalls]

thank you...I feel hopeful when there seem to people people who get it!

[duchamp2008]

Yes some people from your generation responded in mature ways to that war:

"Hey, Tanya, let's blow up some stuff and get stoned afterwards­."
"Groovy, El Commandante of Peace, Love, and Happiness. Hey, let's listen to Janis while we wire it."

[RoloTomassi]

And there we have the simpleton Conservative's take on ANYTHING that opposes the givernment: it's wrong, and it's a joke.

Meanwhile, conservatives encouraged their male children to march off to war in Vietnam, only to see them come home in bodybags, theirs lives wasted for NOTHING--and still they laud the government, and fail to see how they failed their children and themselves by not opposing the government.

Good Job.

[citizensrus]

Some people from my generation peacefully protested.

"On May 4, 1970, Lt.-Col. Charles Fassinger was the highest-ranking uniformed officer on Blanket Hill at Kent State University when a DIFFERENT OFFICER shouted the verbal command ordering Troop G shooters to fire 67 gunshots into a crowd of unarmed student anti-war protesters­."

[cindyfromfalls]

you have no idea what you are talking about. people from my generation were coming home with body parts shot off and minds so deranged they would be lost forever Most protests were peaceful..­.my point is that one has to have been there to understand what Mr. Ayers might have been thinking..­..and I would expect hp contributors would have the good sense to understand that sometimes things are so ugly that there seem to be very few options to try to put an end to the unthinkable.

[HerbTee]

Cindy, well said. I strongly agree with every word you've said. I also grew up in the 1960s and 70s when the Vietnam War was ongoing. That war, the Civil Rights movement and incidents, the ki ll in gs of JFK, MLK, and RFK, Kent State, Jackson State, the K K K, the Black Panthers, the summer riots in most major cities and many more such incidents nearly ripped this country apart. These bloggers who didn't live through or were too young to remember those times don't understand the motives of Bill Ayers and others like him. I don't necessarily condone what Ayers and the others did but I certainly understand why they did those things. It was hard, tough and violent times and those times pushed many people to take extreme and often illegal measures in fighting for idealistic causes they believed in and thought were just causes at the time.

I think they should just leave Ayers and others like him alone. Why are some people (the ReTHUGs) so intent on bringing back the 1960s to rehash old fi gh ts and reopen those old wounds all over again?

[swo68]

"...Iraq of my generation­."

"...Iraq of my generation­."

"...Iraq of my generation­."

"That war ended, in part, because of people like him..."

Craziness.

[cindyfromfalls]

again....y­ou have no idea what you are talking about!

[atlantajoe]

he is heralded as an educator yet the Chicago schools crank out dropouts and illiterate grads. How does bombing people like ayers did have anything to do with stopping LBJ's war. Had Ayers bombed LBJ or others that funded this war I might agree it might help. Ayers bombed people that had no say in ending the war and I hope his buddies that blew themselves up with a bomb meant for others knew for a second or two that they were on the wrong end this time.

[Warmglobe]

Is he going to dedicate his comic book to Sirhan Sirhan?

[RoloTomassi]

m*0*r*0*n

[NCRDIBULL]

or the unibomber

[HerbTee]

No, to Nixon, G. Gordon Liddy, Halderman, Erlichman, Mitchell, and Dean.

[ohiomark]

Is he going to give some of the profits to Obama and Hannity?

Without them, he would just be terr or ist posing as a professor.

[Bulbul]

For all the hypes about this man during the election, particularly by Palin...wh­en Ayers finally surfaced to defend his position to the media , he apeared to be a dull and a boring everyday man.
And now, he is trying to cash in for his fifteen minutes of fame, just like Palin . Why not !
Only, Ayers is highly educated and can write his own Novel, Palin`s would be writ `n by a ghost.

[Jazzman323]

Even domestic terrorists grown up and become boring just like Ayers. If I found my kids teachers or school had any of Ayers books, I would immediately withdraw them from the school.

There is no comparison with Ayers and Palin. In her twenties, Palin had many jobs and achievements working her way up to her current position. Ayers was blowing up government buildings.

[RoloTomassi]

You are obviously beyond help.

[sweetwhine]

Do you truly believe that about Palin or do you just like her in her high heels?

[citizensrus]

Yes, and in that nature..I do not let my children read books about colonial life..unle­ss it is properly censored to exclude references to Paul Revere, the Minute Men, the Boston Tea Party and other references to the American War of Independence.

[gez]

Why are we paying money to this self styled terrorist? Why isn't he in jail?

[RoloTomassi]

How is it, exactly, that you are paying money to this guy? Why aren't YOU in jail?

[Jazzman323]

Ayers is getting paid by the state of Illinois and various speaking engagements. He got out on a technicality. He admitted his guilt. He really should be in jail.

[mexamerican]

you know, i got nothing against bill. but i wish he'd just go away.

[RoloTomassi]

So what should he do...not allow a publisher to print another verion of a moderately successful book that will likely provide him with some income? Should he make sure that no one in the media ever writes another story about him?

Do you really think this guy is trying to stir up more publicity after all of that crap during the election?

Here's an idea I like even better...w­hy don't YOU go away.

[Jazzman323]

I hope, when a Republican is elected for Illinois governor, he will fire Ayers. And I hope universities cease to hire him for speaking engagements. I hope eventually he will be out on the street, poor and destitute.

[Tulka2]

Here's the wonderful, jiggy little fact: Progressive, hippies and liberals have been right about EVERYTHING in the last fifty years. I think it needs a moment of silence.

[toocoldout]

I'm not sure if us liberals have right about everything. It was liberals who wanted to lend money to the poor and some say that caused the economic crisis. And it was liberal like the Lynden Johnson administration that expanded the war in Vietnam.

[RoloTomassi]

You need to do some serious reading and discover the finer shades of gray in all of this; it's not nearly so black and white.

Read Noam Chomsky and Chalmers Johnson and Naomi Klein, and then form your own more nuanced opinion based on solid information.

[Tulka2]

If the right-wing has any sense of humor or timing, they would recognize Bill Ayers memoir published as a graphic novel means the end times have arrived. (Rush Limbaugh just shivered as if someone walked over his future grave.) Between this delightful news of the day and still savoring Lindsey Grahms meltdown yesterday.­...? Well, it's heaven come to earth.

[sweetwhine]

Is it just me, or is Lindsey Grahm the most horrible sounding man ever?? And he looks like a "you know what"!

[Tulka2]

Oh, he was just furious the Dems had shanghied a willing couple of GOP moderates for be behind closed door talks. Do you remember the story about Rumplestillskin? He was the horrible little man who wove the strw into gold for the princess every night so she would have something to show the prince in the morning. She promised the little man her baby, but when she married the prince and actually became pregnant, she knew she had to free her baby from his clutches. She did it by listening at the door as he spun straw into gold. "Oh, i am going to have a human child, yum, yum, yum. If she ever guesses my name is Rumplestillskin i will be done, done, done." She confronts him. He throws a tantrum and goes up in smoke like Lindsey Graham and the rest is history...­.err... i mean they live happily ever after. (Depending, as old Isaac noted, where you end the story.)

[duchamp2008]

So he's gone from being a 'washed up old terror*st' to being a washed up old professor. Ayers is making a Blago moment out of his renewed fame.

[RoloTomassi]

Clueless, aren't you?

[duchamp2008]

Perhaps. Inform me!