In the Company of Rebels: A Generational Memoir of Bohemians, Deep Heads, and History Makers

by Chellis Glendinning

Overview

Meetings with remarkable activists since the 1960s

American social change movements dominated the 1960s and 1970s, an era brought about and influenced not by a handful of celebrity activists but by people who cared. These history makers together transformed the political and spiritual landscape of America and laid the foundation for many of the social movements that exist today.

Through a series of 43 vignettes—tight biographical sketches of the characters and intimate memories of her personal encounters with them—the author creates a collective portrait of the rebels, artists, radicals, and thinkers who through word and action raised many of the issues of justice, the environment, feminism, and colonialism that we are now familiar with.

From Berkeley to Bolivia, from New York to New Mexico, a complex, multi-layered radical history unfolds through the stories and lives of the characters. From Marty Schiffenhauer, who fought through the first rent-control law in the United States, to Ponderosa Pine, who started the All-Species Parade and never wore shoes, to Dan and Patricia Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers and became life-long anti-war and antinuclear activists, the portraits bring out some of the vibrant, irreverent energy, the unswerving commitment, and the passion for life of these generations of activists.

In our present moment, as many people find themselves in the streets protesting for the first time in their lives, In the Company of Rebels makes the connection to this relatively recent rebellious era.

As the author comments on her own twenty-year old self, sitting at the counter of Cody’s Books in Berkeley in the early 1970s, thrilled about the times but oblivious of the work that came before: “I didn’t know anything about this courageous and colorful past. But now I know.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613320952
Publisher:	New Village Press
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Chellis Glendinning is a writer and activist for social change. She is a noted contributor to the field of eco-psychology, and has a strong interest in bioregionalism, feminism, and indigenous rights. Her eight books include Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy andChiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade, both winners of National Federation of Press Women book awards. www.chellisglendinning.org

Table of Contents

Preface: Be Historic xiii

I Berkeley: A Likely Place to Begin 1

Pat Cody: In the Center of It All (1923-2010) 2

II Eyes on the Prize in Cleveland 8

Hooker Glendinning: Doing What There Is to Do (1920-1985) 11

III The Paleolithic at Smith College 18

Paul Shepard: Subversive Animal (1925-1996) 19

IV Make Love Not War: Berkeley in the '60s 26

Marty Schiffenbauer: Master of Political Invention (1938-) 28

Tom Hayden: Political Animal (1937-2016) 35

V I'd Like to Say a Few Words About the Environment, After All, Where Would We Be Without It? Ecology in San Francisco 42

Marc Kasky: The Madcap Ecologist (1944-) 43

Ponderosa Pine: Sidewalk Soles (1932-2014) 52

VI The Roaring Inside Her: Feminism 60

Susan Griffin: The Ardent Intellectual (1943-) 63

Lucy Lippard: Social Collagist (1937-) 69

Sabra Moore: Aprons and Art (1943-) 76

Morgan Alexander: Our Own Gertrude Stein 0939-2016) 82

VII Iron John: The Men's Movement 90

Shepherd Bliss: Return to the Roots (1944-) 92

VIII The New Paradigm 101

Fritjof Capra: The Tao of Ecology (1940-) 105

Joanna Harcourt-Smith: Adventures in Relativity (1945-) 112

IX From Hiroshima to Chernobyl: The Anti-Nuclear Movement 119

Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg: The Whistleblowers (1931-) (1938-) 123

Sunshine Appleby: Disobedience in a Wet Suit (1944-) 132

Kozmick Ladye: The Rent Is Due on the Planet 0930-1992) 139

X Long Live Ned Ludd! Technology Criticism 143

W.H. "Ping" Ferry: Technology as System (1910-1995) 146

Jerry Mander: Firebrand Adman (1936-) 153

Stephanie Mills: A Life of the Mind (1948-) 159

Ted Roszak: Voice for the Earth (1933-2011) 166

Kirkpatrick Sale: Luddite Secessionist (1937-) 170

XI The Secessionists 179

Ian Baldwin: Green Mountain Boy (1938-) 182

XII The Landscape of Freedom: People-of-Color Ecology 190

Carl Anthony: Financial Nets, Not Drift Nets (1939-) 192

Arnoldo Garcia: Breathing Justice (1952-) 201

Ikey De Vargas: Kick-Ass Norteño (1946-) 208

XIII 500 Years: Native Rights 215

Larry Emerson: Hatili/Story Carrier (1951-2017) 217

Suzan Harjo: Born to the Morning Star (1945-) 226

Simon Ortiz: Weaver of Words (1941-) 234

XIV Elements of Refusal: Anarchism 240

John Zerzan: The Green Anarchist (1943-) 245

Earth Liberation Girl: Paleolithic and Proud (1974-) 251

Julie Herrada: Labadie's Daughter (1962-) 254

XV Inside the Beltway 260

Abigail McCarthy: Catholic Peacemaker (1915-2001) 261

XVI It's the Law, The Economy, and War, Stupid! 265

Richard Grossman: Be Strong (1943-2011) 266

Peter Barnes: The Pretend Banker (1942-) 272

Andre Vltchek: A Day in the Life (1963-) 278

XVII Planeta O Muerte: Latin America 284

Jorge Bayro: Guerrillero urbano (1950-) 286

Iván Nogales Bazán: Libertad por teatro (1963-) 294

Jesús Sepulveda: Poeta contra la dictadura (1967-) 300

Raúl: How to Cross the Border (1973-) 307

Anita Rodriguez: Paint and Mylar (1941-) 314

Saul Landau: One Shot (1936-2013) 319

John Ross: Human Shield (1938-2011) 325

Afterword 331

Acknowledgments 335

The Author 337

The Publisher 339

Editorial Reviews

"Chellis Glendinning has written a memoir evoking the lives of women and men she has known. From Susan Griffin to Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg, Suzan Harjo to John Ross, they are some the most creative and courageous geniuses of a generation: scientists, artists, ecologists, whistleblowers, booksellers, socialists, anarchists, philosophers, internationalists, healers, activists all. Glendinning's portraits are uniquely intimate even as they explore her subjects' powerful conviction and passion for justice. In depicting how they shaped her, Glendinning shows how their legacy shapes us, her readers. In the Company of Rebels is one of the most profoundly moving books I've read in years."

Margaret Randall