Learning from the Sixties

I genuinely enjoyed reading this memoir, and I felt like I finally understood the political trajectory of SDS, which has eluded me despite the dozens of books I have read about it. The author has no axes to grind, and writes in an open and vulnerable spirit. I gained real insight from his honest presentation of both the heroic spirit of organizing that imbued such SDS successes as the Vietnam Summer campaign in 1967, as well as from his frank presentation of the sick sectarianism that ultimately destroyed SDS. He never lets his proximity to the celebrities of the era – Dylan, Baez and her sisters – throw him off track from his destiny to be an organizer – too often an unpaid one! He also paints a vivid portrait of the politics of Cambridge MA throughout his decades of organizing, (my hometown for the last 3 decades). It includes a suspenseful account of the rent control struggles, the mysterious episode of Cambridge Iron and Steel, and his experience working in the Boston Woven Hose Factory (after decades of being a member of worker-student alliance he candidly portrays why he lasted only six months on the assembly line). I felt transported in time by his portrait in general of a Cambridge, now a town where only the gentry can afford to live, where one could still hear a factory whistle. He goes on to provide an inspiring account of the Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign, the model for his next organizing venture, the creation of the Neighbor to Neighbor campaign, a community organizing campaign that is a work of real genius. He generously and purposefully mentored some of the best and principle political leaders of the current generation. What a life, and what a story! I am so glad that he made the effort to share it with all of us, and I for one will keep close to my heart the lessons that he carefully enumerates from his courage and hard work.