There are several republished short stories by Howard Fast that are currently free in the main ebookstores, courtesy of Open Road (who hopes you'll look at his recently released
backlist). But, the best bargain amongst his novels is one published by Sourcebooks,
Immigrants (Lavette Family), currently on sale for $1.79 on Kindle ($1.99 elsewhere, coupon eligible).
The Art of Zen Meditation (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Sony)
Howard Fast began to formally practice Zen meditation after turning away from communism in 1956. The Art of Zen Meditation, originally published by the antiwar political collective Peace Press in 1977, is the fruit of Fast’s study: a brief and instructive history of Zen Buddhism and its tenets, written with a simplicity that is emblematic of the philosophy itself. Fast’s study of Zen also inspired his popular Masao Masuto mystery series about a Zen Buddhist detective in Beverly Hills, which he published under the pseudonym E. V. Cunningham.
The Art of Zen Meditation is illustrated with twenty-three beautiful photographs.
Spain and Peace (Kindle/iTunes/Kobo
/Sony)
Howard Fast was a longtime proponent of the antifascist movement in Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, Fast supported a hospital for Popular Front forces, and in 1950 he was sentenced to three months in jail for refusing to give the names of other supporters of that hospital to the House Un-American Activities Committee. In this pamphlet, published in 1951, Fast gives an overview of Spain under the rule of General Francisco Franco, including the mass strikes that were organized to weaken him. Fast’s fervent appeals to readers to reject American military agreements with Spain demonstrate his passionate opposition to fascism. As Fast writes, “Spain fights on, and in those three words there is a miracle. . . . There is no Spanish worker, professional, intellectual or peasant who strikes a blow for freedom without our being intimately concerned.”
The Incredible Tito: Man of the Hour (Kindle/B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
The world was mired in the Second World War when Howard Fast wrote The Incredible Tito. Upon the book’s publication in 1944, there was still no united Yugoslavia, the Axis controlled most of Europe, and D-Day was only in the planning stages. In the Balkans, Tito was a beacon of hope against the advancing Nazis. He led a force of resistance fighters that bedeviled the occupying German army throughout Slavic regions and empowered people’s committees to act as local government in all liberated areas. For observers on the political left, Tito seemed uniquely poised to unite the East and West against fascism—once and for all.
Immigrants (Lavette Family) ($1.79 Kindle; $1.99 B&N/iTunes/Kobo/Sony)
In this sweeping journey of love and fortune, master storyteller Howard Fast recounts the rise and fall of a family of roughneck immigrants determined to make their way in America at the turn of the century. Quick to ascend from the tragic depths of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Dan Lavette becomes the head of a powerful shipping empire and establishes himself among the city's cultural elite. But when he finds himself caught in a loveless marriage to the daughter of San Francisco's richest family, a scandalous love affair threatens to destroy the empire Dan has built for himself.
The first of a compelling family saga, The Immigrants is a fast-paced, emotional novel that captures the wide range of relationships among immigrant families during the tumultuous events that defined the early twentieth century in America.
The Incredible Shrinking Tour of Chicago, by by Wilco, is on iTunes, courtesy of dBpm Records / ANTI- (Warner Music). It's short, but includes behind the scenes shots and music (so is quite large); requires iBooks 2 and iOS 5.
