Truth in NonFiction

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Revolutionaries, Rebel Women, Black Panthers, the Young Lords, and Young Patriots, Social Change, Hippies, Communes

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Revolutionaries

American Heiress, The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trail of Petty Hurst by Jeffrey Toobin—Portrays the electrifying lunacy of the time and the toxic mix of sea, politics, and violence that swept up Patty Hurst and the nation.

Bringing the War Home, The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and revolutionary violence in the sixties and seventies by Jeremy Varon—Conveys the heated passions of the era: the moral certainty, the depth of Utopian longing, the sense of danger and despair, and the exhilaration over temporary triumphs.

Cuban Journal, a poet in the Venceremos Brigade, 1970 by Joel Sloman—An account in verse of the daily life of a brigadista during the 1970 massive sugar cane harvest.

Days of Rage, America’s radical underground, the FBI, and the forgotten age of revolutionary violence by Bryan Burrough—An explosive account of the decade-long battle between the FBI and the homegrown revolutionary movements of the 1970s. The Weathermen. The Symbionese Liberation Army. The FALN. The Black Liberation Army. The names seem quaint now, when not forgotten altogether. But there was a time in America, during the 1970s, when bombings by domestic underground groups were a daily occurrence. The FBI combated these and other groups as nodes in a single revolutionary underground, dedicated to the violent overthrow of the American government. Drawn on interviews with members of the underground and the FBI.

Dissent in the Heartland, The sixties at Indiana University by Mary Ann Wynkoop—A grassroots view of student activism (antiwar, civil rights, counterculture, feminism) on the Indiana University campus in the 1960s.

Fugitive Days by Bill Ayers—Chronicles his childhood, radicalization, days as a leader of the Weather Underground, and time as a fugitive from the US government.

If They Come in the Morning...: Voices of Resistance (Radical Thinkers) by Angela Y. Davis—an account of Davis’s incarceration and the struggles surrounding it, but also perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough analysis of the prison system of the United States. Contributions from George Jackson, Bettina Aptheker, Bobby Seale, James Baldwin, Ruchell Magee, Julian Bond, Huey P. Newton, Erika Huggins, Fleeta Drumgo, John Clutchette, and others.

Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond by David Gilbert—From the early anti-Vietnam War protests to the founding of SDS, from the Columbia Strike to the tragedy of the Townhouse, Gilbert was on the scene: as organizer, theoretician, and above all, activist. He was among the first militants who went underground to build the clandestine resistance to war and racism known as “Weatherman.” And he was among the last to emerge, in captivity, after the disaster of the 1981 Brink’s robbery for money (to form a new country in a few select southern states that ideally would be populated only by African Americans) by several Black Liberation Army members and four former members of the Weather Underground that resulted in four deaths and long prison  terms. Written from the maximum-security prison where he lived for almost thirty years, 1983 to 2021.

My Life with SDS and the Weathermen Underground by Mark Rudd  (who lived underground as one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives with an eventual surrender in 1977)—Memoir about his involvement with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the subsequent, more violent Weather Underground during the late 1960s and 1970s with reflection on the motivations, naiveté, and contradictions of the era. Includes the 1968 occupation of Columbia University and the "Days of Rage" in Chicago.

Outlaws of America, The Weather Underground and the politics of solidarity by Dan Berger—Culled from dozens of in-depth interviews with former Weather Underground members, as well as with civil rights activists, Black Panthers, Young Lords, and others, the book examines the history of the Weather Underground with a critical, yet compassionate and nuanced, perspective on the organization's actions, motivations, and legacy.

Robert F. Kennedy: And the 1968 Indiana Primary by Ray E. Boomhower—Chronicles Robert F. Kennedy's campaign in Indiana and his historic speech in Indianapolis on the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Subversives: the FBI’s war on student radicals and Reagan’s rise to power by Seth Rosenfeld—An investigative reporter details the covert alliance between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Ronald Reagan to discredit 1960s student activists at the University of California, Berkeley, based on over 300,000 pages of secret FBI documents that Rosenfeld obtained through a 30-year legal battle under the Freedom of Information Act.

The War Within: America's Battle Over Vietnam by Tom Wells— Argues that the anti-war movement on the American home front was not a failure but played a significant role in ending the conflict.

Weatherman edited by Harold Jacobs—Complete picture of Weatherman in the words of those who theorized, acted, watch, from the SDS split in June of 1969 to the bombings of in June 1970.

Up Against the Wall Motherf**ker, A memoir of the ‘60s, with notes for next time by Osha Neumann-Founding member writes a fast moving story about the anarchist street gang, the Motherfuckers, who influenced the Yippies and members of SDS; makes vivid the art, music, and politics of the era; and reveals the colorful, often deeply strange, personalities that gave the movement its momentum.
 
Rebel Women

A History of the Birth Control Movement in America by Peter C. Engelman—A narrative history of one of the most far-reaching social movements in the 20th century that defied the law and made the use of contraception an acceptable social practice―and a necessary component of modern healthcare.

Daughters of Aquarius by Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo—Reveals how women experienced and shaped the counterculture communes, extends understanding of second wave- feminism, and how the counterculture women moved these values and practices into mainstream middle America.

Hotbed, Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism by Joanna Scutts—Little known story about the bold women of the 1912 Heterodoxy club whose audacious ideas and unruly acts transformed a feminist agenda into a modern way of life.

Loose Change, Three women of the sixties by Sara Davidson—Private lives of three women set against the public background of the time: the free speech movement, antiwar protests, Woodstock, drugs, the sexual revolution, Eastern spirituality, the avant garde art world of New York and Paris, communes, and the first moments of the women’s movement.

Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion by Jean H. Baker—A re-examination of the controversial birth control advocate as an intensely feminist reformer. Published in 2011, the book attempts to rescue Sanger from both conservative critics and progressive neglect by placing her actions within the historical context of the early 20th century. See my review

Margaret Sanger, An autobiography: A Fight for a birth control by Margaret Sanger—A memoir detailing her life and experiences as a nurse in New York City's slums, which fueled her dedication to women's reproductive rights and social justice. The book describes her personal struggles and public battles to make birth control universally available, including facing opposition from government and religious leaders, and highlights her role as the founder of the birth control movement and first president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Outlaw Woman, A memoir of the war years, 1960-1975 by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz—In 1968, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz helped found the Women’s Liberation Movement, part of what has been called the second wave of feminism in the United States. She was an antiwar and anti-racist activist and organizer throughout the 1960s and early 1970s and a fiery, tireless public speaker on issues of patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, and racism. She worked in Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade and formed associations with other revolutionaries across the spectrum of radical politics. Unlike most of those involved in the New Left, Dunbar-Ortiz grew up poor, female, and part–Native American in rural Oklahoma, and she often found herself at odds not only with the ruling class but also with the Left and with the women’s movement.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan— Published in 1963, part social chronicle, part manifesto, it gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no name”: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60% of women students dropped out of college to marry, Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives.

The Story of Jane, The legendary underground feminist abortion service by Laura Kaplan—Told by one of the members of Chicago’s  The Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation established in 1969, known as Jane,  a chronicle of the four years they provided more than 11,000 women with safe and affordable abortions.

We’ll Call You If We Need You, Experience of Women Working Construction by Susan Eisenberg —The author began her apprenticeship with Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1978, the year president Jimmy Carter set goals and timetables for the hiring of women on federally assisted construction projects and for the inclusion of women in apprenticeship programs. In this book, full of the raw drama and humor found on a construction site, Eisenberg gracefully weaves the voices of 30 women who worked as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, painters, and plumbers to examine why their numbers remained small.
With the Weathermen, The personal journal of a revolutionary woman by Susan Stern—A candid, first-hand look at the radical politics and the social and cultural environment of the New Left during the late 1960s as Stern transforms from a shy, married graduate student into a go-go dancing, street-fighting “macho mama.”  Stern was tried on conspiracy charges as one of the famed "Seattle Seven" and later went on to write this memoir, before overdosing in 1976.

Yours in Sisterhood, Ms. Magazine and the promise of popular feminism by Amy Erdman Farrell— In the winter of 1972, the first issue of Ms. magazine hit the newsstands. For some activists in the women's movement, the birth of this new publication heralded feminism's coming of age; for others, it signaled the capitulation of the women's movement to crass commercialism. This book explores the complex and often contradictory effort to forge a popular feminist message within a commercial mass-market format.
 
Black Panthers, the Young Lords, and Young Patriots

Revolutionary Hillbilly, Notes from the struggle on the edge of the rainbow by Hy Thuman—Recounts Thurman's experience as a grassroots organizer and co-founder of the Young Patriots Organization in 1960s Chicago as part of  The original Rainbow Coalition: the Young Patriots (a group of poor white youth), the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and the Young Lords (a Puerto Rican political group).

The Assassination of Fred Hampton, How the FBI and the Chicago Police murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas—in a chilling exposé written by an attorney of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, the truth behind a premeditated killing carried out by Chicago police and the FBI, updated with new material at the 50-year anniversary of the shooting an account of the assassination.
The Young Lords, A Radical History by Johanna Fernández-- the definitive account of the Young Lords, from their roots as a Chicago street gang to their rise and fall as a political organization in New York.
 
Social Change

1969, The year that rocked the world by Mark Kurlansky—An opinionated and readable history that makes the case for why 1968 was lasting relevance.

Anti-Social, Online extremists, techno-utopians, and the hijacking of the American conversation by Andrew Marantz—an eye-opening exploration of the causes and consequences of our current societal breakdown.

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams—A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis— A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press. Called “a message to thinking Americans” by the Springfield Republican when it was  published in 1935; a shockingly prescient novel that remains as fresh and contemporary as today’s news.

Ten Years that Shook the City, San Francisco 1968-1978 edited by Chris Carlsson —In first person and historical essays, a broad look at the diverse ways those ten years changed the city and the world we live in today, from community gardening to environmental justice, gay rights, anti-gentrification, neighborhood arts programs and more.

The Underground Press in America by Robert J. Glessing— Explores the history and significance of the underground newspapers during the countercultural shifts of the 1960s, a detailed look into their operations, content, and cultural role.
 
Hippies

Be Here Now by Dr. Richard Alpert, Ph.D into Baba Ram Dass— Combines Alpert's personal narrative with psychedelic-inspired illustrations, practical spiritual practices, and philosophical insights drawn from Eastern traditions like Hinduism and Buddhism, became a counter-culture classic and is widely credited with popularizing Eastern spiritual concepts, yoga, and meditation in the West.

Coming to My Senses, The making of a counterculture cook by Alice Waters—A memoir portrait of late 1960s Berkeley seen through the eyes of the rebel chef of Chez Panisse as she searches for the right taste while in the throes of tumultuous political and personal events.

Hippies, A guide to an American Subculture by Micah L. Issitt—Covers the years between 1961 and 1972, focusing on the emergence, growth, and legacy of hippie culture

Sleeping Where I Fall by Peter Coyote—A candid memoir by actor, director, and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote of his 15-year journey through the heart of the 1960s counterculture, from his privileged upbringing to his immersion in West Coast communal living and political activism including his time as a member and leader of the Diggers, a collective of artist-anarchists in the San Francisco Bay Area who experimented with creating a "Free Family" through free stores and other services that rejected the commercialization of the burgeoning hippie movement.
 
Communes

Monday Night Class by Stephen Gaskin—Original transcripts of the weekly meetings in San Francisco on consciousness, the spiritual plane, religion, marriage, drugs, sex, politic etc. drawing on the Bible, Zen Buddhism, mythology, and thinkers.

The Caravan by Stephen Gaskin—Transcripts of Stephen’s talks during and stories of the 1970-71 8,000-mile, 250-schoolbus caravan from San Francisco to Tennessee that started The Farm commune.

Total Loss Farm: A years in the life by Raymond Mungo (founder of the underground press' Liberation News Service and co-founder of Total Loss Farm)—Memoir about one of America's first communes located in southern Vermont. Written in a limber prose style formed by the tempo of the times, Mungo takes us into the cultural tsunami of a failed radical politics as it broke on the shoals of a drug–fueled personal freedom and washed inland across the farmlands of Vermont, leaving a trail of damage and redemption in its wake.

Voices from the Farm, Adventures in community living edited by Rupert Fike—Personal accounts from current and former members of The Farm, one of America's largest and oldest intentional communities.

We Are as Gods, Back to the land in the 1970s on the quest for a new America by Kate Daloz—Follows the Myrtle Hill commune in Vermont. Sheds light on one generation’s determination to change their own lives and, in the process, to change the world.

Volume One, Sunday morning services on The Farm by Stephen—A collection of Gaskin's Sunday morning sermons. It serves as an introduction to life and spirituality at The Farm, covering topics like high states of consciousness, shared vision, and the community's blend of politics and religion.