Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of an Ex-Senator

Advise and Dissent is the personal odyssey of James Abourezk, from his coming of age as the son of Lebanese immigrants in South Dakota, through his hardscrabble days as a farmhand, bartender, bouncer, and cook, to his entrance into and voluntary exit from the U.S. Senate. His is a quintessentially American story that entertains as it challenges the thinking of our nation.

Abourezk refused to compromise his beliefs. He championed Native American self-determination and demanded the creation of a Palestinian state. He challenged the flow of special interest money through political action committees and tried to overthrow the structure that keeps small farmers in an economic stranglehold. His memoir takes the reader on a remarkable and wise tour through the corridors of power. At a time of waning public confidence in government, he makes us realize the importance of participatory democracy.

James G. Abourezk represented the state of South Dakota as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1971-73) and the U.S. Senate (1973-79). He was the first Arab American to serve in the Senate and currently practices law in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is the coauthor of Through Different Eyes: Two Leading Americans--a Jew and an Arab--Debate U.S. Policy in the Middle East. Fred Harris is a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico and was a Democratic senator from Oklahoma from 1964 to 1973 and the thirty-second chairman of the Democratic National Committee.