History Upside Down or Committed

History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression

Author: David Meir Levi

Forty years ago, a significant part of the political, religious, intellectual, and terrorist leadership of the Arab world declared an all-out war against the documented history of the Middle East and America's role in the Muslim world. Arab PR professionals and spinmeisters have rewritten the record for political and propaganda purposes. Blaming the Victim is the first wave in a counterattack against that Arab war on history.

Book about: The Power of the Mind to Heal or 100 Questions and Answers about Cervical Cancer

Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir

Author: Dan Mathews

Committed is a bold, offbeat, globe-trotting memoir that shows how the most ridiculed punching bag in high school became an internationally renowned crusader for the most downtrodden individuals of all -- animals. This irresistibly entertaining book recounts the unorthodox coming-of-age that inspired a reluctant party boy to devote his life to a cause, without ever abandoning his sense of mischief and fun.
Mathews is the irreverent force behind the colorful crusades carried out by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), making animal rights the "it" cause with campaigns involving nude protestors, odd costumes, and celebrities as diverse as Pamela Anderson and Sir Paul McCartney. With self-deprecating wit and candor, he reveals the edgy details of his outrageous career, which has found him arrested naked on the streets of Hong Kong, dressed as a carrot outside grade schools in Iowa (where he was pelted with luncheon meats), and impersonating a priest to crash a fashion show in Milan.
From the rock scene in Hollywood and London to the inner sanctums of New York high fashion and from jails in Boston to a psychiatric ward in Paris, Committed spotlights the adventures life can offer when you don't abandon your ideals and imagination with your youth.

Publishers Weekly

Having grown up poor and gay, with a penchant for punk rock and Lawrence Welk, Mathews, who is now campaign chief for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, had a rough start. But his camp, cosmopolitan and crass memoir is like a life lesson from the Island of Misfit Toys: a study of the unwitting heroism and adventures of an outsider dedicated to a cause. Less a treatise than a picaresque tale, his book wouldn't be complete without a bit of persuasion, whether detailing the horrors of the fur industry, factory farming or animal experimentation. But he's as willing to make fun of himself as he is of his many targets—including Vogueeditor Anna Wintour (who, he says, "looks as if she has constant, painful gas") and deli-meat–hurling Iowan children. Then again, this is a man who dresses up regularly in a carrot costume. Aided by humor, luck and friends like Pamela Anderson and Morrissey, Mathews makes clear there is savvy to his controversial methods. "The flair you bring to a protest is as important as the issues themselves—if you want to reach beyond the small core of whoever might care about an issue." Those at odds with Mathews's ideals are bound to find him irritating, but open-minded readers will discover a charming polemicist. (Apr. 17)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Alicia Graybill - Library Journal

Mathews has been with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for more than 20 years, working his way up from receptionist to vice president of promotion, a position through which he has brought global attention to the organization and its mission. He is good at coming up with unusual angles to promote PETA and animal-rights issues, and he devotes much of this autobiography to demonstrating his creativity in doing so. The writing is certainly entertaining and makes for an amusing way to spend an hour or two. Unfortunately, the celebrity names and references fall like hailstones and do almost as much damage, stopping the story's flow dead in its tracks. In the end, the reader feels that Mathews is using the same techniques to promote himself as he does to promote PETA, which is a shame, as his life deserves more respect than that. Still, there is no doubt that this book will sell well in our celebrity-obsessed culture. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ12/06.]

Library Journal

Find out why PETA VP Mathews is committed and how he got that way; with a six-city tour. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

Prologue: Meat Me in St. Louis     1
Atomic Meltdown     11
Attaining Outcast Status     27
"Dan Mathews: We Will Kill You"     43
Young Hustler, Ancient Rome     59
A Reluctant Revolutionary     75
All the Rage     93
DOOFNAC XEMI     111
This Is a Raid     119
An Alpine Diversion     143
Cinderfella     161
Ladies Who Lunch     189
Bedlam     199
Committed     221
Epilogue: Dismal Swamp Thing     243
Acknowledgments     255