In 1968 the Yippies nominated a pig for President at the Republican National Convention and planned a Festival of Life at the Democratic Convention. Chicago refused to grant permits. Instead, the cops attacked a couple of thousand revelers. That in turn led to the Trial of the Chicago Seven, which attracted more media attention than the Festival-that-didn’t-happen. Judy has much to say about all of these happenings, and more.
As feminism, then called women’s liberation, emerged out of the contradictions between the values that the Left (including the Yippies) espoused and the ways they acted, Judy recognized kindred spirits. But her attempt to participate in a specifically feminist group in Boston exposed her to another contradiction. Her “sisters” called her male-identified, and they didn’t mean it as a compliment. Women putting down other women for acting or thinking like men was pervasive.
In keeping with its subtitle, the book is studded with excerpts from Gumbo's FBI file, followed by her comments. She describes how the FBI searched her home and put a tracking device on her car. The FBI viewed Gumbo and her fellow Yippies as terrorists, not pranksters. The fact that Gumbo's parents were real Commies reinforced that view, despite the absence of evidence. Some of Judy's comments on the FBI's actions and observations are quite amusing.
Whether you lived through the Sixties or afterwards, this book is a fun read. Informative, thoughtful and entertaining, it would be more useful if it had an index. Even without one, it may soon be a major motion picture.
Jo is looking for a publisher for her latest book: Tell It Like It Is: Living History in the Southern Civil Rights Movement, 1965-66. She is also looking for 2023 books to review.
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