To America with Love: Letters from the Underground [Paperback]

ABBIE AND ANITA HOFFMAN (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Putting the sixties in a human perspective." -- Tom Hayden

"We are in desperate need of these kinds of leaders...Abbie Hoffman reminds us that it can be done." -- Vincent D'Onofrio

About the Author

Abbie Hoffman was born November 30, 1936, in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he grew up. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1958, and received a Master's Degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. After abandoning a career in clinical psychology, Abbie became a field secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1963, working on civil rights projects in Georgia, Mississippi and New England. In 1966, he established Liberty House, a retail chain selling goods of the Poor People's Corporation in Mississippi. A leading activist of the antiwar movement, he was one of the architects of the Pentagon demonstration and the convention protests in Chicago in 1968. Arrested more than forty times, he stood trial in a score of precedent-setting cases, including that of the Chicago Eight. He has written four books, Revolution for the Hell of It, Woodstock Nation, Steal This Book, and Vote! In March, 1974, facing drug charges in a case in which he claims he was innocent, he became a fugitive. He continued to do protest work underground under the alias of Barry Freed, and in recognition of his work regarding the St. Lawrence River, was called before Congress to testify. Abbie resolved to come up from underground, and in 1980 gave himself up, was retried, sentenced, but after one year, was freed on parole due to hundreds of letters on his behalf. In 1989, he allegedly committed suicide under odd and rather suspicious circumstances. Until that time, he spent his remaining years working on a variety of issues from preserving the environment to protesting U.S. Involvement in Latin America. Despite the best efforts of the government, and of those who opposed him politically, he lost neither his passion for social justice nor the courage to participate in the democracy he cherished.

Anita Kushner Hoffman was born March 19, 1942, in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in Queens, New York, and returned to Baltimore to attend Goucher College, from which she graduated in 1962. She subsequently studied English literature at Columbia University, and received a Master's degree in psychology from Yeshiva University in 1966. She has worked as a New York City guide, as a summer security guard at the World's Fair, as a secretary and as a psychotherapist. In 1970, her first novel was published under a pseudonym. She is a founder of the Downtown Welfare Advocate Center in Manhattan. She died December 27, 1998 of breast cancer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Red Hen Press; 2 edition (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888996285
• ISBN-13: 978-1888996289
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,186,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abbie + Anita = A Beautiful america, October 19, 2002

By 

KevinX (Brantford, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To America with Love: Letters from the Underground (Paperback)

"To America With Love: Letters From The Underground" is one of the most beautiful and personal books I've ever read. The book itself compiles a number of written correspondences between 60s radical Abbie Hoffman and his beautiful wife Anita after Abbie was forced to go underground as he was facing a guaranteed life sentence for drug related charges.

What the book shows is the frustration of Abbie himself being away from his wife, and young son america Hoffman (yes, his name is spelled with a small "A"), the rantings of a man who loved his country but not it's workings. With Anita we see the growth of a young woman -- and single mother -- coming into her own and attempting to build a life without Abbie for herself and america.

I highly recommend this great book to those who claim that revolution is cold, and uncaring, as it shows the love of a family who were on the frontlines of revolution during the 1960s. I would also recommend this to anyone who wants to know more of Abbie and Anita outside of the well-documented history the couple was known for...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Internal Beauty, March 27, 2007

By 

Crista N. Nezhni "Crista" (South Point, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To America with Love: Letters from the Underground (Paperback)

I read this book & became instantly inspired; I began searching for ways to help my community and 'fight' verbally for my rights. It is a very beautiful, romantic book as well as empowering. The book consists of letters that show when two people are truly commited to eachother and a cause (or more than one cause), they never trully fall away from eachother. This book will pull your emotions up one minute and bring tears to your eyes the next. I ended up highlighting half the book b/c I wanted to remember it all; I have only reread a book once or twice, but I could reread this book a million times and still find insight in it. A must read!