John Ross, American activist, author and journalist, died from liver cancer he was , 72.

John Ross  was an American author, poet, freelance journalist, and activist who lived in Mexico and wrote extensively on its leftist political movements died from liver cancer he was , 72..

(March 11, 1938 – January 17, 2011)

Ross was the author of several books, including a gritty portrait of Mexico City, where he spent almost all of his time since 1985. He was part of the Beat movement, and first came to Mexico in the late 1950s. Born in New York City, Ross also lived in San Francisco, California prior to returning to Mexico.

He was one of the early draft resisters during the Vietnam War, and in early 2003 he travelled to Iraq, hoping to serve as a "human shield" to help protect Iraqi civilians prior to the U.S.-led invasion. The volunteers were forced out of the country because they were critical of the Iraqi government's choice of sites to protect.
A prolific journalist, Ross wrote countless articles for San Francisco newspapers, CounterPunch, Pacific News Service, and the Mexico City daily La Jornada. Since 1993, when Ross first broke the story in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, he regularly covered the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (also known as the EZLN or Zapatistas) rebellion in Chiapas with articles appearing in both English and Spanish language news publications. Ross covered political corruption in Mexico and the United States, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico's subsistence agriculture, potential environmental threats from the introduction of genetically modified plants — in particular those utilizing genetic use restriction technology — and the Iraq War. ^[1][2][3][4] His articles have appeared in San Francisco Bay Guardian^[5]The Nation,^[6] CounterPunch,^[7] The Progressive,^[8] and La Jornada.^[9]
Ross's work reflected a deep and abiding interest in rebel movements like the Zapatistas in southern Chiapas state. John Ross wrote several books about the Zapatistas (1995 American Book Award winning^[10] Rebellion from the Roots,^[11][12] The War Against Oblivion, and ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible^[13]), as well as a somewhat autobiographical memoir (Murdered by Capitalism^[14]), and several chapbooks of poetry. Most recently, he had initiated the publication of ^[15] IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq.

Contents [hide] 1 Bibliography 1.1 Books 1.2 Poetry chapbooks 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books

• Rebellion from the Roots: Indian Uprising in Chiapas (Common Courage Press: 1995)
• Mexico in Focus (Latin America Bureau: 1996) ISBN 1-899365-05-2
• We Came to Play: An Anthology of Writings on Basketball (with Qentin R. Hand)(North Atlantic Books: 1996) ISBN 1-55643-162-7
• The Annexation of Mexico: From the Aztecs to the IMF (Common Courage Press: 1998) ISBN 1-56751-131-7
• Tonatiuh's People: A Novel of the Mexican Cataclysm (Cinco Puntos Press: 1998) ISBN 0-938317-41-5
• Mexico in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture (Interlink Publishing Group: 2002) ISBN 1-56656-421-2
• The War Against Oblivion: The Zapatista Chronicles (Common Courage Press: 2002) ISBN 1-56751-175-9
• Murdered by Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life & Death on the American Left (Nation Books: 2004) ISBN 1-56025-578-1
• ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible: Chronicles of Resistance 2000–2006 (Nation Books: 2007) ISBN 1-56025-874-8
• El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City (Nation Books: 2009) ISBN 1-56858-424-5

[edit] Poetry chapbooks

• Jam (Mercury Litho-Bug Press: 1976)
• 12 Songs of Love and Ecocide (1977)
• The Psoriacis of Heartbreak (1979)
• The Daily Planet (1981)
• Running Out of Coastlines (1983)
• Heading South (1986)
• Whose Bones (1990)
• Jazzmexico (Calaca de Pelón: 1996)
• Against Amnesia (Calaca de Pelón: 2002)
• Bomba (Calaca de Pelón: 2007)

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