No More Lies

Republished as part of Amistad’s Literary Revival Program, the groundbreaking, bestselling look at history from the perspective of African Americans: an essential classic that continues to speak to us today, written by the voice of black consciousness, Dick Gregory—the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and NAACP Image Award–winning author.

In 1972, during the Black Power Movement, iconoclast Dick Gregory challenged one of the foundations of America itself—its history, which had been written almost exclusively from the white male perspective. In No More Lies, this true trailblazer gave voice to African Americans, speaking their truth about the past and race relations in the United States.

No More Lies offers this incomparable satirist’s intellectual, conspiratorial, and humorous spin on the facts. No subject is off limits from his critical eye—Gregory examines numerous aspects of culture and history, from the slave trade, police brutality, the wretchedness of working-class life and labor unions to the 1968 Civil Rights Act, the Founding Fathers, “happy slaves,” and entrepreneurs. 

Although this absorbing book is more than forty years old, its provocative truths continue to reverberate in our lives today. With No More Lies, Gregory inspire a new generation to connect what is happening today with what has happened in the past.  

In this trailblazing work of Black history, Gregory dismantles the foundational lies of America one by one:

• The Puritan Pilgrim Myth: Uncover the true story of colonization, where stolen corn, an accidental plague, and commercial interests replaced the myth of religious freedom.
• The Founding Fathers: Examine the hypocrisy of men who penned the Declaration of Independence while owning slaves and designing a system that privileged property over humanity.
• The Myth of Emancipation: Analyze why Abraham Lincoln's proclamation was a calculated war measure, not a moral act, and how 'freedom' became another form of control.
• Institutional Racism: Follow Gregory’s searing analysis of how white supremacy is baked into America's laws, language, and culture—from the Boston Tea Party to the 'white tornado' on TV.