Timmerman, Kenneth R. Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson. Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2002. 501 pages.

This biography of Jesse Jackson is written by a conservative and published by Regnery, which is very conservative. Occasionally in the book, on certain issues, the author reveals the right-wing baggage that he brought to this project. There is too much red baiting over the background of Martin Luther King advisor Jack O'Dell, a former CPUSA member. (The CPUSA played an important role in the early civil rights movement, and deserves credit for this, not scorn.) Other examples are when the author mentions Jackson's position on the Panama Canal, or his meetings with Yasser Arafat, or with officials from the African National Congress (some of the leaders in the ANC were Communists, which is all the author needed to know about that).

The other ninety percent of this book exposes Jackson's career as a huckster and shakedown artist, and is meticulously documented. Jackson's association with Chicago gangsters has by now evolved into his technique with American corporations. The approach is somewhat crude: if a corporation helps fund one of his many "nonprofit" fronts, Jackson won't sabotage their plans by flexing his affirmative action muscle. Other fascinating chapters chronicle Jackson's inept dealings with African thugs such as Charles Taylor of Liberia. Jackson traveled as a presidential "special envoy" at a crucial time in that region, which amounts to evidence of Clinton's poor judgment.
ISBN 0-89526-165-0

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