A gripping memoir of America in the ‘60s, of idealists turned radicals, and of a life lived on the run
In February 2008, in the heat of the Democratic primary elections, speculations began circulating in the media about a connection between presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, a former member of the radical 1960s group the Weather Underground. In Fugitive Days, Ayers tells the real story of the defining events of the radical '60s. The book is an eyewitness account of a young pacifist who helped found one of the most radical political organizations in U.S. history, and who consequently lived for ten years as a fugitive. In a new era of antiwar activism and suppression of protest, Fugitive Days is more poignant and relevant than ever.
For anyone who wants to think hard about the social conflagration the Vietnam War produced in the U.S., and more generally about a citizen’s obligations in troubled times, Ayers’s powerful, morally charged account of a life and a society in the political balance is provocative reading. –David Farber, Chicago Tribune
A memoir that is, in effect, a deeply moving elegy to all those young dreamers who tried to live decently in an indecent world. Ayers provides a tribute to those better angels of ourselves. –Studs Terkel, author of Working and The Good War