Fugitive Days: A Memoir by Bill Ayers
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Book Reviews of Fugitive Days: A Memoir
Book Review: A Long Overdue Memoir - Well Worth Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Ayers once, several years ago, during a breakfast in Chicago that I was privileged to have with former SDS National Secretary Michael Klonsky. Since, as Bill writes in his book, "Memory is a mother----er," he probably doesn't remember that meeting at all. But, I remember Bill's stated ambition at the time as wanting to be the "Rush Limbaugh of the left." It's a shame he didn't follow through on that, for I think he would have made an articulate radio commentator.Fortunately, we have this long overdue memoir. Bill Ayers writes with tremendous grace (he's a fine writer), and absolute candor. These two attributes should be sufficient recommendation for anyone interested in political radicalism in the 1960's. Ayers was in the thick of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), quite possibly the most significant, mass movement of the left in the past three decades. Books on this subject alone are difficult to find (such as Kirkpatrick Sale's long out of print history).
But, it is always refreshing to hear history as told by a participant. Bill Ayers, to his great credit, glosses over nothing that is significant. Equally worthwhile is the fact that although Bill's focus has changed to educational reform, he has not joined the legions of former leftists (e.g., Max Eastman, Jay Lovestone, Whitaker Chambers, Jerry Rubin, David Horowitz) who turned their back on their political leftism for conservative and neo-conservative politics.
The interesting thing is that, with the exception of the FBI and those within the SDS orbit, Bill Ayers was somewhat of an unknown. The media focused on Mark Rudd, following the Columbia University rebellion, and Bernardine Dohrn, an activist and lawyer (who is now married to Ayers). Still, Bill Ayers was very much in the thick of things and uniquely suited to write this very stimulating and provocative memoir.
Read this book for its merits, no matter your own political philosophy. You do not have to agree with Bill Ayers, nor do you need champion the Weather Underground and its activities. Indeed, there are but a few who will do so. What you do need to understand is what liberals, conservatives, and radicals all seem to agree on: The 1960's were turbulent, angry times when this nation appeared to be coming apart, and when revolution seemed a relevant concept.
Bill Ayers brings these times to life in his compelling memoir. Much of his activity was wrong-headed, which he admits. Some of it had very tragic consequences. But the spirit of commitment, of pursuit of a just and equitable society, of working toward a brighter future, all of this is worthwhile and shines through in this book.
Book Review: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are American heroes.
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are American heroes.
Unlike most people that sit around idly & whine about corrupt politicians, unfair work environments, and the total lack of justice in the courts, the Weathermen at least did *something*. Perhaps, at times, their actions were misguided, but the fact that they made the effort shows their character. They are not terrorists. They are heroes. Their targets were carefully selected & minimized loss of life -- unlike police around the country that deliberately and systematically murdered individuals such as Fred Hampton & many others.
As Ayers himself has said, you can't take someone's actions out of the context in which they occurred. Look at what was going on at the time: young people were being drafted & forced to fight in an immoral war for profit. The country was run by liars and criminals -- first LBJ, and then Nixon. Then, as now, corporations became filthy rich by robbing the People, all with the knowledge and assistance of the politicians, our supposed benefactors. And, as with now, there were no real civil rights.
Conditions now are identical, if not worse than they were in the '60s/'70s. In fact, the political climate today is identical to that which sparked the original American revolutionary war. There is no taxation with representation. Just try to get your Congressman on the phone. He's too busy or important? Listening to you is his *job*. Peacefully assembly, a Constitutional right, will get you beaten up & thrown in jail -- by thugs whose salary YOU pay, no less. We live in a time when a complete imbecile, backed by family connections, can steal the Presidency. Finally, the People of Missouri chose to vote for a dead man over John Ashcroft, who, installed as Attorney General, tramps all over the Constitution -- the basis for all our laws and, indeed, our country itself.
Ayers and Dohrn are more like the patriots and Founding Fathers than today's "sanctioned" crop of George the 3rds. Perhaps the sheeple don't like the Weathermen because the Man on TeeVee didn't say they were "ok". Maybe people are stupid.
Since virtually every reviewer has rated this book not on its own merits, but on their opinion of the author, I will follow course and give five stars.
Book Review: A wonderful memoir of a time with many lessons
Summary: 5 Stars
Today, as we all necessarily embark on the launching of a new anti-war movement against yet another vicious amerikkkan assault on the people of the world, we need to learn some of the lessons that this book has to teach. Prof. Ayers gives a short, yet interesting account of how he came to oppose war and racism and to understand the need for standing up courageously for justice and equality. Did he and the Weathermen make errors? well certainly! and he explores some of these. One wishes that he had presented more of a detailed perspective for what he regards as the way forward. Clearly, one of the key errors that he and his brothers and sisters made was the almost complete liquidation of above ground mass organization. Whatever efforts were later made to revive this on their part, via the Prairie Fire Organizing Committees, etc., was probably too little too late. Hopefully those same errors will not be made in these troubled times by the new emerging anti-war movement.
The book also suffers, unfortunately, from the lack of an index, and it would have been useful to have an appendix with some of the documents of the time described. Many also would have appreciated a section of photos.
You may not agree with all of this book. I know that I didn't. That's not the point.
There are many valuable lessons to be learned here.
And, if nothing else, purchasing this book can help show your appreciation for one of the genuine heros of the movement in support of the Vietnamese people, who did more than just talk when action was clearly called for. Peace and Justice.
Book Review: fight the real enemy
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the few books to tell the story of the Weathermen, some of whom are still serving jail time while Nixon got an easy pardon for Watergate (and after planting quite a few bombs in the Vietnamese countryside), while dr Kissinger is the seminal American war-criminal and general Westmoreland should have been sent to the Hague later on. My point is: these guys had a mission, they were the true Americans, they risked their lives fighting the war machine that sent young Americans to die in a futile war. And what did they get - not a pardon, that's for ure. OK, so they could have run away to Canada (or Sweden...), but they chose to stand up to their beliefs. I mean, give these guys some credit!I like to read these one star - reviews that show how little some people understand about those time. There was a war going on, these guys took the trenchlines inside the United States of America where they really belonged. But some Americans are so happy with throwing bombs everywhere else, and supporting Fascist governments like the one in Chile after the 1973 coup.
The book by mr. Ayers is a strange book to come out of America where most books are written in political ignorance.
I think these one-star reviewers should be sent to the Vietnamese countryside on a holiday trip to see what their government did to a small, brave nation that fought an impossible fight and survived.
Book Review: brave and straight-forward
Summary: 5 Stars
Thank you to Bill Ayers for providing compelling and accessible context for history that's basically impossible for my generation (not yet born in the 60's) to navigate. 1960s stories and reflections slip easily into hype and hind-sight-heavy moral lore; Ayers' book avoids both beautifully. Fugitive Days is a brave and straight-foward story of a war/time so violent and crazy that it inspired acts of rage and protest in the least likely (and most American) suspects. In the articulation of his own journey from a pampered suburb to the FBI's most wanted list, Ayers reflects honestly, warmly, and with the tremendous dual forces of irony and dignity -- on why he did the things he did. And even though the story is an unusual and intensely specific, Ayers makes it (for us) a universal coming of age. He serves up the 60s in a smart and empathetic voice. Neither self-congratulatory nor tortured with regret, Ayers is simply the clear, focused narrator of a hard and complicated story to tell. Finally, he seems to want less to set the record straight than to create a personal record of one of the most important and difficult times in American memory. Brave of Ayers to use personal genre to take personal responsbility, and brilliant that he provided this stark inside story and steered clear of rants, confessions and apologies.