Book Reading - From Ike to Mao and Beyond

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press contact: Ken Theisen (415-982-1300 ext. 310) or Heriberto Ocasio (415-902-7936)
"BREATHTAKING" MEMOIR OF REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST MAKES HEADLINES
BOOK EVENT, JUNE 10 TO BE COVERED BY C-SPAN’S BOOK TV
The upcoming event will take place on Friday, June 10, 7pm at Valencia Street Books (569 Valencia Street) and will be aired on Book TV sometime in July.
Bob Avakian's new memoir, From Ike to Mao and Beyond, My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist is making unexpected waves and garnering attention at a time of great polarization in America. The San Francisco Chronicle (4/29/05, F5) wrote: "Avakian's new memoir... leaves a breathtaking impression. Having deepened and purified his convictions over 40 years of personal and political struggle, Avakian sounds a high, sustained cry for complete social transformation almost as if he were the trumpet of Lenin himself."
This highly favorable review originally ran in the East Bay section of the SF Chronicle and will be re-run in the City Section the same day that C-Span’s Book TV will be filming a reading of the memoir at Valencia Street Books (located at 569 Valencia Street, SF) in San Francisco. Over three thousand copies of the book have been sold since March, when it was officially released. Along with the aforementioned review, it has been reviewed in the Midwest Review of Books, InsideHigherEd.Com, CounterPunch.Net along with several college and high school newspapers.
Featured at the June 10 event will TV, Film and stage actress, Lucia Marano (co-star of "100 Centre Street" on the A&E Network), Raymond Lotta (Maoist Political Economist, author of America in Decline and Maoist Economics and the Revolutionary Road to Communism); Martha Queztal Ceja (Managing Editor of Insight Press, Inc.), Wilson Riles Jr (former Oakland City Councilman and former director of the American Friends Service Committee; partner Seven Generations Consulting); Bekka Fink (Berkeley-bred composer, writer, performing artist), Noel Don Juan (for 20 years a SF Bay Area radio host and personality); Patricia St Onge (Haudenosawne), partner Seven Generations Consulting; Bay Natives for Peace, People’s Non Violent Response Coalition). The first reading was held in Berkeley, where Mr. Avakian is from. The event was co-hosted by over a dozen luminaries, including actor Peter Coyote, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Berkeley City Councilman, Kriss Worthington.
Mr. Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, is known for his radical and non-dogmatic approach to communism. Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, is quoted on the book’s cover: "I can understand why Bob Avakian has drawn so many ardent supporters. He speaks to people’s alienation from a warlike and capitalist society, and holds out the possibility for radical change."

Quetzal Ceja, the Managing Editor of Insight Press, Mr. Avakian’s publisher said recently: "This country is deeply divided and large numbers of people are hungry for critical and revolutionary thought that challenges what’s deemed acceptable and that raises peoples sights to what is necessary and possible in today’s world. We are heading into a very dark time in this country, and world, and there is an urgency for people to hear Mr. Avakian’s story." This sentiment was evident at the two book readings in California with crowds of over 250 at each.
Interviews available with Quetzal Ceja, Managing Editor of Insight Press, Inc., a new, independent publisher. Insight Press is devoted to meeting the urgent and diverse needs of critical inquiry. They want to engage the timely conversations about taking responsibility for the future of the planet and the course of history. They are especially proud to feature the writings of Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Ms. Ceja has made television and radio appearances, spoken at conferences and in dozens of high schools and colleges throughout the Southwest and West Coast.