Maurice Isserman, James L. Ferguson Professor of History, has penned an examination of several memoirs written by members of the 1960s radical campus groups, the Weathermen and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). In "Weather Reports," which appears in the Feb. 11 issue of The Nation and was posted on the publication's Web site on Jan. 24, he pays particular attention to Cathy Wilkerson's memoir, Flying Close to the Sun.
Wilkerson was one of two Weathermen members who survived an explosion in a New York City townhouse in which her housemates were assembling a bomb for a planned detonation at Fort Dix later in the day. "Cathy Wilkerson's memoir, Flying Close to the Sun, offers a compelling cautionary tale of what comes from mistaking revolution for a moral choice," said Isserman.
Later in his article, Isserman observed, "The trouble with Flying Close to the Sun is that we get no persuasive explanation for Wilkerson's transformation from the woman who, at age 21, could walk into the office of the nation's largest radical group and without previous experience immediately take over the editing of its weekly newspaper to the woman who, four years later, apparently found it difficult to grasp that a nail-studded dynamite bomb could actually kill people."
Isserman closed with a review of Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History, "a radical comix-inspired work edited by historian and former SDSer Paul Buhle." He described Buhle as "one of the 'radical elders' who in 2006 oversaw the launching of a new group claiming the SDS name along with descent from the original." Summarizing the book, he wrote, "This volume seems intended as a combination recruiting pamphlet and internal education document--and its mixed intent is its principal problem, since it jumbles together genuine history with alluring mythology."
Wilkerson was one of two Weathermen members who survived an explosion in a New York City townhouse in which her housemates were assembling a bomb for a planned detonation at Fort Dix later in the day. "Cathy Wilkerson's memoir, Flying Close to the Sun, offers a compelling cautionary tale of what comes from mistaking revolution for a moral choice," said Isserman.
Later in his article, Isserman observed, "The trouble with Flying Close to the Sun is that we get no persuasive explanation for Wilkerson's transformation from the woman who, at age 21, could walk into the office of the nation's largest radical group and without previous experience immediately take over the editing of its weekly newspaper to the woman who, four years later, apparently found it difficult to grasp that a nail-studded dynamite bomb could actually kill people."
Isserman closed with a review of Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History, "a radical comix-inspired work edited by historian and former SDSer Paul Buhle." He described Buhle as "one of the 'radical elders' who in 2006 oversaw the launching of a new group claiming the SDS name along with descent from the original." Summarizing the book, he wrote, "This volume seems intended as a combination recruiting pamphlet and internal education document--and its mixed intent is its principal problem, since it jumbles together genuine history with alluring mythology."
