A book from the U.S. underground, covering Abbie--in disguise--interviewing people, touring the FBI building, and organizing a campaign to save the St. Lawrence River. The articles are creative, funny, nervy, and political.

Looks at the life of the famous rebel in the social, cultural, and political context of his times.

Twenty-five fascinating, revealing interviews with the mothers of twenty-five high-achieving Jewish people, including the mothers of Stephen Spielberg, ex-convict Abbie Hoffman, Nobel Medalist Rosalyn Yalow, and more. Like other mothers in the book, Clara, who died recently, exemplified a life of hard work and sacrifice, as well as worry about her child when a teacher told her Rosalyn was a genius. ("I never met the man Einstein but I heard he was a little peculiar.") The author says Leah Adler, mother of film director Steven Spielberg, was the funniest person he'd ever met, and readers will agree. With obvious love and pride, she kvetches about bringing up a peculiar son ("I didn't know what the hell he was"). There are reports on rock stars, a lawyer, playwright and other achievers and at least two people more notorious than famous: porn film star Harry Reems and yippie ex-convict Abbie Hoffman.

Discusses the literary works and great authors of the Beat Generation.

John Hazlett's engaging study of writers from the 1960s demonstrates the ways in which the idea of the generation has affected autobiographical writing in this century. Autobiographers from the sixties claim to speak on behalf of all members of their generation. However, each writer presents a unique political and personal agenda.

American Literature in Transition, 1970–1980 examines the literary developments of the twentieth-century's gaudiest decade. For a quarter century, filmmakers, musicians, and historians have returned to the era to explore the legacy of Watergate, stagflation, and Saturday Night Fever, uncovering the unique confluence of political and economic phenomena that make the period such a baffling time. Literary historians have never shown much interest in the era, however - a remarkable omission considering writers as diverse as Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Marilyn French, Adrienne Rich, Gay Talese, Norman Mailer, Alice Walker, and Octavia E. Butler were active. Over the course of twenty-one essays, contributors explore a range of controversial themes these writers tackled, from 1960s' nostalgia to feminism and the redefinition of masculinity to sexual liberation and rock 'n' roll. Other essays address New Journalism, the rise of blockbuster culture, memoir and self-help, and crime fiction - all demonstrating that the Me Decade was nothing short of mesmerizing.

As cultural revolutionary, media celebrity, Yippie, lost soul, and tragic suicide, Abbie Hoffman embodied the contradictions of his era. In this riveting new biography, Jonah Raskin draws on his own twenty-year relationship with Hoffman; hundreds of interviews with friends, family members, and former comrades; and careful scrutiny of FBI files, court records, and public documents. For the Hell of It is a must-read not only for those interested in this ultimate iconoclast, but also for all who seek a fuller understanding of Abbie Hoffman's America.