5 results for "Biography"

Redemption song: Muhammad Ali and the spirit of the sixties

Marqusee, Mike
In Redemption Song, Mike Marqusee takes the reader on an eye-opening excursion through the politics and culture of the 1960s, using the magisterial but often contradictory career of "the Greatest" as his guiding thread. His portrait of the boxer provides a springboard for an investigation of the themes of black representation, popular culture, the Black Atlantic, and the wool and warp of exuberant individualism and mass protest that came to typify the 1960s. Marqusee's story is populated by figures such as Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis and Kwame Nkrumah. It includes fresh examinations of Ali's friend, the singer Sam Cooke, who was a secret supporter of the Nation, and of Bob Dylan, whose retreat from protest to introspection provides an illuminating counterpoint to Ali's own journey.
Verso 1999 310 pages

Yippie girl: exploits in protest and defeating the FBI

Gumbo, Judy
HONORABLE MENTION, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, Autobiography & Memoir! Lifelong activist Judy Gumbo, an original member of The Yippies, a 1960s anti-war satirical protest group, offers an insider feminist memoir of her involvement with the Yippies, Black Panthers, women's rights, environmental actions, and a life of activism. In 1968, a 24-year-old woman moved to Berkeley, California and immediately became enmeshed in the Youth International Party, aka The Yippies, an anti-war satirical protest group. In the next few years, Judy Gumbo (a nickname given her by Eldridge Cleaver), was soon at the center of counter-cultural activity-from protests in People's Park, to meetings at Black Panther headquarters, to running a pig for President at the raucous Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a protest that devolved into violent attacks by the police and arrests that led to the notorious Chicago Conspiracy Trial. In this historical account, Gumbo reveals intimate details of--and struggles with--her fellow radicals Jerry Rubin, Anita & Abbie Hoffman, Eldridge Cleaver, Paul Krassner, Stew Albert, and more, detailing their experiences in radical protests. This deep dive into her activism includes details of her organization of a national women's rights group, her visit to North Vietnam during the war, her travels around the globe to promote women's liberation and anti-war protest, and her environmental activism. It also includes extensive excerpts from illegal wiretaps and surveillance by the FBI. "A welcome addition to the literature of radical activism." --Kirkus Reviews "A fun read and a valuable political document, long overdue." --Counterpunch Yippie Girl explores Gumbo's life as a protester to show that, while circumstances always change, protesters can stay loyal to the causes they believe in and remain true to themselves. She also reveals how dogmatism, authoritarianism, and interpersonal conflict can damage those same just causes, offering a timeless and strategic guide for activists today protesting against injustice in all its forms.
Three Rooms Press 2022 333 pages

Heretic's heart: a journey through spirit & revolution

Adler, Margot
Adler was a young woman determined to be taken seriously and to be an agent of change - on her own terms, free from dogma and authoritarian constraints. From campus activism at the University of California at Berkeley to civil-rights work in Mississippi, from antiwar protests to observing the socialist revolution in Cuba, she found those chances in the 1960s. Heretic's Heart illuminates the events, ideas, passions, and ecstatic commitments of the decade like no other memoir.
Beacon Press 1997 309 pages