Abbie Hoffman, American RebelAbbie Hoffman is a symbol of the activist sixties. He was there at the beginning, at the protests against the House Committee on Un-American Activities in San Francisco and as an organizer for the southern civil rights movement. His life fused the radicalism of rebellious hippie youth, the anti-Vietnam War protest movement, and the political agenda of the American left. Although the revolution that he anticipated proved an illusion in the end, his ideas and ideals changed the course of American history. Abbie Hoffman was more than a "sixties radical". He was one of the most inventive community organizers in American history; his insights into effective political activism hold lessons for activists today. Hoffman was also the quintessential showman, the star and creator of an explosively funny, subversive, and revelatory theater of the street, and the first political theorist to use television advertising techniques to create news. Whether publicizing injustice, promoting hedonism, protesting war, or fighting to save the environment, no one could raise a stink and grab a headline as spectacularly as Abbie Hoffman. This first biography of Abbie Hoffman from the late 1960s, places Hoffman in the social, cultural, and political milieu in which he lived and worked. Marty Jezer focuses on the ideas that informed his politics and describes what happened to the Left and to America when Hoffman put his ideas into action. Jezer admires Hoffman's courage, creativity, and idealism, but is critical of his refusal to set limits on his personal and political life. Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel reveals a warm, generous, and exciting personality whose private and public lives were often one, whoseimpact is still apparent, whose life touched and in this book will continue to touch people devoted to justice and progressive change. |
Contents
I never left Worcester 19361955 | 1 |
A Radical Education 19551960 | 20 |
Worcester and the South | 42 |
Copyright | |
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Abbie and Anita Abbie and Jerry Abbie Hoffman Abbie wrote Abbie's activists Allen Ginsberg American Anita Hoffman antiwar movement arrested attack Barry Freed be-in began Berkeley Best of Abbie bohemian Brandeis campaign City civil rights movement Conspiracy convention counterculture culture Daley Dave Dellinger defendants delegates Dellinger Democratic demonstrators drugs East Village Ed Sanders Father Gilgun festival Fouratt friends going hippies idea interview with author Jerry Rubin Jewish Jews Johanna Judge Hoffman Kennedy kids knew leaders liberal Lincoln Park living Major Motion Picture Maslow ment MFDP Mobe movie Nixon nonviolent organizing pacifist Panthers party Paul Krassner peace Pentagon police political protest psychedelic radical rally Rennie Davis revolution revolutionary Sanders Save the River SNCC social Steal This Book Stew Albert streets tactics talk television theater tion Tom Hayden trial underground Vietnam violence vote wanted Worcester Yippies York young youth