Sam Smith has been a lonely populist voice in Washington, a journalist who's chronicled the waste, the misdeeds, the scandals, and spending that make Washington Washington. Smith is a natural-born iconoclast who refuses to give up being a barnstormer - Jacki Lyden, NPR

Sam Smith has been a grand institution, writing with pinprick precision about the foibles of generations of public officials - Tom Sherwood, Channel 4 News, Washington

Sam's one of the few independent voices left. The press today is either extreme or special interest or else just establishment, an extension of the corporate spirit -- Eugene McCarthy

Sam Smith is an antidote to mindless speed reading. He makes you pause between paragraphs in order to mull over the captivating morsels he is placing in your imagination. - Ralph Nader

An alternative press icon if ever there was one -- NY Press

A truly independent journalist with his feet firmly grounded in the reality of neighborhoods and everyday people. -- Patrick Mazza, Progressive Populist

A larger than life presence in the nation's capital . . .A truly original voice in American journalism: humorous and plain spoken and filled with common sense -- Jay Walljasper, Utne Reader

Sam Smith is perhaps the ultimate pragmatic environmentalist, with a sharp eye for what works and a sharper ability to deflate the pompous and overly - self-loving. - JMG, Grist

Inimitable -- Mother Jones Magazine

Sam's a cynical cat -- Marion Barry

The Progressive Review has been a luxuriant jungle of old-school reporting and frenetic information exchange since before blogs were blogs, and before the the Internet was the Internet. Feels like visiting Bugs Raplin's apartment [in the movie Bob Roberts]. - Jason Zannon, Democracy In Action

One of the nation's leading visionaries. -- Charlie Spencer, Charlie Spencer Show

Notorious journalist -- Seattle Weekly

Progressive Review is regarded as one of the best observatories of the political life in Washington. - Voltairnet, France

Washington has but a very few observers of the caliber, honesty and overall orneriness at the right times and places as Sam Smith -- Stephen Goode, Insight Magazine

He has a wonderful combination of being absolutely realistic about the vagaries of people in political life while still being an idealist. -- Peter Edelman

A reputation for wit, intelligence and anger. -- Claude Lewis, Chicago Tribune

Smith is an island of reason and information in a sea of narcissistic blather. -- City Paper, Washington

[He's] no stranger to clamorous debate -- in fact, he's caused more than his share of it himself. -- Tom McNichols, Washington City Paper

Smith is an island of reason and information in a sea of narcissistic blather. -- City Paper, Washington

Capital curmudgeon -- Phylilis Richman, Washington Post

Sam Smith runs a pretty good newspaper. His Capitol East Gazette, in fact, may be the best paper in town. It certainly is the most readable. - Bill Raspberry, Washington Post, 1969

Whatever the debate, the Review's sharp critiques encourage us to look out our window, notice and act upon what we see, and also to look further -- to the rest of the country and globe -- to see how the organized big world interacts with our more spontaneous small worlds. - Utne Reader

Why Bother, in a wonderfully engaging and erudite manner, addresses the great question confronting democracy, community and justice -- and that is civic motivation. Prepare to be motivated. RALPH NADER

Sam's book is a balm of solace and a kick in the pants - GARY RUSKIN, COMMERCIAL ALERT

An American original. . . He's got a big old cussed independent streak that keeps you guessing and hence keeps you reading. .. .Some of the things I love about this book: . . . .The plain-spoken way it puts forward even pretty difficult thoughts.. . .Above all, its useful intelligence. - COLUMNIST CRISPIN SARTWELL

Sam Smith puts it to us straight in these essays about finding meaning and hope - JAY WALJASPER, UTNE READER

Sam's book is a balm of solace and a kick in the pants - GARY RUSKIN, COMMERCIAL ALERT

There are two principal potential objectives in the making of public policy: one is self-interest, the other is the desire to help others. In the plainest language, and with lucid logic, Sam Smith shows us which applies where and, most importantly, he shows us how we can bring the two objectives together to help one another as we help ourselves. Keep going, Sam-- Mario Cuomo

Smith's book is a toolbox for hacking a corrupt system. It is also funny as hell . . . . There are butts that need kicking in this country . . . Sam Smith is handing out the boots. -- Alex Steffen, The Stranger, Seattle

Passionate yet humorous, honest and courageous, above all wise and inspiring . . . Combines an unrivaled sensibility about America's plight with an authentic practical genius for national rescue. This is an utterly unique, desperately necessary book, a literal last chance for taking back our lost republic. -- Roger Morris, author of Partners in Power

"Smith offers [a] community based, participatory politics that's neither left nor right wing but the whole bird. . . . His work is not different from what quality journalism ought to be: truth-seeking, independent, fair-minded and debunking." -- Colman McCarthy, Washington Post

Shadows of Hope

Lively, astute and powerful critique of the Clinton approach to our national crises. It raises profound questions about our two-party system as a corruption of the democratic ideal ---- Historian Howard Zinn

Even ideological critics will appreciate his role as an unaligned skeptic. In an age of sound bites and increasing political homogenization, "Shadows of Hope" is an encouraging sign that independent analysis is still alive. -- Michael Rust, Washingon Times

"[Compared with Agenda] Smith's book is by far the wiser and more useful and certainly the more entertaining of the two ... [Bob Woodward's] judgments, when he works up the energy to make any, are purely mundane. Smith, on the other hand, is turned on by politics ... .His saucy judgments remind one of the way H. L. Mencken handled presidential campaigns." -- Robert Sherrill, The Texas Observer.

Captive Capital could be an excellent gift for any friend just moving to town. Or any friend who has managed to live here for some time without learning anything about Washington ... One of the few efforts I have seen that manages to deal with black people and white people without insulting either, and without appearing to be written for one or the other. -- Bill Raspberry, Washington Post

Smith's analysis of the class dimensions in the community challenges the cliches and generalizations that most white writers stumble over. . . Altogether, the book presents a fascinating story of history-in-the-making. It is absolutely 'must' reading for all fwho are interested in this city's history, its political or private life, or the contributions and personal assets of both the black masses and the black leaders. -- James Tinney, Afro-American

Sam Smith. . .

Is a writer, activist and social critic who has been at the forefront of new ideas and new politics for more than four decades. He has been editing alternative publications since 1964, longer than almost anyone in the country. He has covered Washington longer than almost anyone in the capital.

Is the author of four highly acclaimed books, three at the request of editors. The latest is Why Bother?: Getting a Life in a Locked Down Land, which was an Utne Reader and Powell's Bookstore staff pick and was selected by Working Assets (now Credo) as one of its books of the month.

Is an award-winning alternative journalist and editor of The Progressive Review.

Has helped to start 6 organizations including the DC Community Humanities Council, Center for Voting and Democracy and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Was one of the organizers of the Association of State Green Parties - forerunner of the national Green Party - and, in the 1970s, was a co-founder of the DC Statehood Party, which held public office for more than two decades.

Has been on the board of the Fund for Constitutional Government since the 1980s. Is on the board of Commercial Alert. and the advisory board of the Center for Voting & Democracy. Is a former board member of the Project on Government Oversight.

Is the author of Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual published by WW Norton in America and Europe and excerpted in Utne Reader. His Shadows of Hope: A Freethinker's Guide to Politics in the Time of Clinton (1994) won cross-ideological praise. The book was the first to raise serious questions about Clinton's character and political intentions. Wrote Captive Capital: Colonial Life in Modern Washington, published in 1974, which is still cited as an authority on the local city.

In May 1992 the Review had become the first publication in America to connect the pieces of the puzzle that would become known as the Clinton scandals. Its coverage of these scandals have been among the most thorough to be found anywhere.

Has been published in a number of anthologies including Media & Democracy (1996), You Are Being Lied To (2001), Censored 2000 (2001), 50 Reasons Not to Vote for Bush (2004), and Quest: Reading the World and Arguing for Change (2006)

One of his essays, An Apology to Young Americans, was turned into a musical number by Yale associate professor of music John Halle and performed in several cities.

Has had articles published in the Washington Post, Washington Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, Planning Magazine, Illustrated London News, Washington World, Regardie's Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Harper's, Washington Monthly, Washington Tribune, Washington City Paper, Nashville Scene, Washington History, Designer/Builder, Progressive Populist, North Coast Express, Yes!, Potomac Review, London Time Out, Green Horizon Quarterly and Utne Reader.

Is a native Washingtonian who covered his first Washington story in 1957 as a 19-year-old radio news reporter.

Was American correspondent for the Illustrated London News.

Has been a radio newsman and a guest commentator on radio and television. For five years he appeared weekly television, and later radio, panels otherwise comprised of black journalists. Has appeared on nearly 700 radio and TV talk shows from NPR and Pacifica to the O'Reilly Factor

The arts section of his DC Gazette included the work of Tom Shales (now TV critic for the Washington Post), Roland Freeman (now a nationally recognized photographer), and Patricia Griffith (later president of the Pen-Faulkner Foundation). In the mid-1970s, the arts section was spun off as a separate publication, the Washington Review, which lasted 25 years and won a number of awards.

The DC Gazette early published a number of writers and cartoonists who later became far more widely known including Tony Auth, Dave Barry and Bill Griffith. The Gazette also published what was then the only urban planning comic strip in America as well as the first column by a prison inmate to appear in a non-penal publication. The planning comic strip, drawn by John Wiebenson, was the subject of a show at the Kabil Gallery of the University of Maryland Architecture School in 2007.

Was a leading journalistic voice against the Washington Post-backed plan to build miles of freeways that would have made DC look like an east coast Los Angeles.

Was the first writer to call for DC statehood and explain how it could be achieved without a constitutional amendment. Also advocated urban statehood for largest metro areas.

In the early 1970s he became one of the first to support a revival of light rail and other alternatives to hyper-expensive and inefficient subway systems.

Was an early advocate of bikeways.

Has been a vigorous opponent of destructive urban planning practices .

Since the 1960s has been a critic of the punitive approach to drug addiction and the war on drugs.

Wrote a 1990 article on the second S&L scandal -- the S&L bailout itself -- that was selected by Utne Reader as one of the top ten undercovered stories of past decade.

Has been co-plaintiff in seven public interest law suits, three of them successful. Most recently was a plaintiff in a suit against the president and Congress for denying democracy to the District of Columbia, which was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court.

Was elected as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the Washington's first neighborhood elections.

Served as home & school association president for a DC public elementary school.

Was operations officer and navigator aboard a Coast Guard cutter and later executive officer of the Baltimore Coast Guard reserve unit.

Graduated from Harvard in 1959 with a major in anthropology. Was news director of Harvard radio station WHRB. Was elected station manager but couldn't serve due to academic probation.

Was a member of the Maine state crew in the New England men's sailing championship, 1956, and a member of the Harvard varsity sailing team.

Spent his teen years in Philadelphia. Attended Germantown Friends School and took part in his first political campaign at the age of 12. Started his first alternative publication, a family newspaper, when he was 13, and his school's first band.

A musician (first drums, then stride piano & vocals), he had his own group - the Decoland Band - for over a decade and was the co-composer of a musical revue. He also played with the New Sunshine Jazz Band, Hill City Jazz Band, Phoenix Jazz Band, and the No So Modern Jazz Band.

Is a member of the board (and formerly president) of the Wolfe's Neck Farm Foundation, a community-based alternative agricultural center which created the largest natural beef operation in the northeastern part of the country.

Was a co-owner and trustee of Philadelphia's classical music station, WFLN, for 14 years.

Married to social historian and author Kathryn Schneider Smith, who started and directed Cultural Tourism DC and has written several books on Washington history. They have two sons.

The Progressive Review 41 years inside the Beltway, out of the loop, and ahead of the curve. . . We reported on NSA monitoring of U.S. phone calls years before it became a major media story. We opposed both Iraq wars. The Review started an web edition in 1995 when there were only 20,000 web sites worldwide. Today there are 150 million. In the 1990s, the Review, as part of its strong ecological reporting, warned of possible warming of the Gulf Stream and its consequences to Europe. This at a time when other media, such as the Washington Post, weren't sure there was such a thing as global warming. Months before the 1992 Democratic convention, the Review became the first publication to report in depth on what would become known as the Clinton scandals. It listed more than a score of institutions and individuals - nearly all of whom would be linked to criminal misdoing before the end of the Clinton administration In the early 1990s the Review ran a six page timeline of questionable activities by the Bush family. At the time it attracted little attention but is now one of the Review's most read features. Our 1990 article on savings & loan bailout scandal was selected by Utne Reader as one of the ten most undercovered stories of the past decade. In the 1980s we ran an article on AIDs. It was the first year that more than 1,000 men would die of the disease. In the 1980s, Thomas S Martin predicted in the Review that "Yugoslavia will eventually break up" and that "a challenge to the centralized soviet state" would occur as a result of devolutionary trends. Both happened. In the 1980s, we reported on the dangers of computerized voting and suggests possible solutions including an independent review of software and an adequate audit trail. Beginning in the 1970s, we argued that the war on drugs would not work. It hasn't. We argued for light rail and other transit alternatives in the 1970s that were later widely adopted. In the 1970s we published a first person anonymous account of a then illegal abortion We opposed the war in Vietnam We strongly supported the civil rights movement. In 1965 we called for the end of the draft. We proposed bikeways in the 1960s. We proposed community policing in the 1960s We opposed and helped stop the planned freeway system that would have made DC like an east coast Los Angeles. We published first person reports from the Mississippi pivotal civil rights summer of 1964. The Review: the moderate voice of a time that has not yet come.