Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies [Paperback]

Jeremy Varon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0520241193 | ISBN-13: 978-0520241190 | Edition: 1

In this first comprehensive comparison of left-wing violence in the United States and West Germany, Jeremy Varon focuses on America's Weather Underground and Germany's Red Army Faction to consider how and why young, middle-class radicals in prosperous democratic societies turned to armed struggle in efforts to overthrow their states. Based on a wealth of primary material, ranging from interviews to FBI reports, this book reconstructs the motivation and ideology of violent organizations active during the 1960s and 1970s. Varon conveys the intense passions of the era--the heat of moral purpose, the depth of Utopian longing, the sense of danger and despair, and the exhilaration over temporary triumphs. Varon's compelling interpretation of the logic and limits of dissent in democratic societies provides striking insights into the role of militancy in contemporary protest movements and has wide implications for the United States' current "war on terrorism."
Varon explores Weatherman and RAF's strong similarities and the reasons why radicals in different settings developed a shared set of values, languages, and strategies. Addressing the relationship of historical memory to political action, Varon demonstrates how Germany's fascist past influenced the brutal and escalating nature of the West German conflict in the 60s and 70s, as well as the reasons why left-wing violence dropped sharply in the United States during the 1970s. Bringing the War Home is a fascinating account of why violence develops within social movements, how states can respond to radical dissent and forms of terror, how the rational and irrational can combine in political movements, and finally how moral outrage and militancy can play both constructive and destructive roles in efforts at social change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A rich, well-written and remarkably thorough account of a movement gone wrong." -- San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Jeremy Varon in Bringing the War Home achieves something very difficult, and very important: he conveys the intense heat of moral purpose and political conviction that drove some radicals to violence, while at the same time he maintains a cool analytic distance that enables him to provide a brilliant and compelling interpretation of the logic and limits of dissent in democratic societies. And his conclusions illuminate pressing issues about the role of militancy in contemporary protest movements."--Jon Wiener, author of Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files

"By looking seriously at the rise of revolutionary violence and the international dimensions of that phenomenon, Jeremy Varon makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of 'The Sixties.' His book paints a nuanced picture of a period in recent history that in many ways remains an open wound. In so doing, Varon helps us to see the world today more clearly. This is extremely important history-especially for young people."--Sam Green, Director/Producer of "The Weather Underground"

"Jeremy Varon's important and courageous book marks a turning point in the scholarship about the 1960s and their aftermath. With an admirable mixture of distance and engagement, Varon brings to bear the classic questions which European and American historians have applied to questions of politics and violence. Bringing the War Home makes significant contributions to understanding terrible events. It deserves close attention both from scholars and a broad reading public."--Jeffrey Herf, author of Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys

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Product Details

• Paperback: 407 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (April 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520241193
• ISBN-13: 978-0520241190
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars tremendous achievement September 22, 2004

By A scholar/activist

Format:Paperback

In this well-researched, beautifully written book, Jeremy Varon explores the whole range of factors that gave rise to revolutionary rhetoric and practice in the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as the moral and existential dilemmas that lurk behind any question of political violence. I'm especially impressed by his multi-faceted approach to the material. To cite just a few examples: With his close reading of images and texts from the underground press, he does the work of a cultural historian; where he draws from pyschological models of trauma to help explain RAF's turn toward violence, his work is squarely within the realm of intellectual history; by unearthing a range of neglected sources and examining these groups "from the bottom up," his work takes on the flavor of a social historian; and I especially enjoyed his rich, narrative descriptions, which make the book such a pleasure to read. Finally, this difficult topic is everywhere explored with a keen moral integrity - and I certainly do not share one reviewer's suggestion that the author reveals any kind of right-wing bias! To the contrary, Varon remarks that this book was inspired by the same passion for justice that animated the new left itself. He seems sympathetic to the aims (if not the tactics) of many Sixties activists, and in his conclusion, he underscores the implications that this study has to to some of the most pressing exigencies of our time - terrorism and globalization. Of course, both Weatherman and the RAF come in for some strong criticisms, but ironically, the most damning testimony frequently comes from their former members. (This is especially true of RAF). All in all, this is a tremendous achievement -- an intelligent, rigorous, and elegantly written book that deserves a wide audience from scholars and activists alike.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Look Into the Heart of the Anti-War Movement June 11, 2004

By Gerhardt F. Getzin

Format:Hardcover

I bought this book thinking it was a companion to the very good
documentary recently on PBS. Instead I found great detail and
incredible analysis of not just the Weathermen but driving forces
behind the anti-war movemnet. It is really an intelectual history of
the peak of the movement in the late sixties and early seventies.
Most will likely be suprised at the sophistication and
care to avoid physical harm, especially after the Townhouse
explosion. I susect that most of those againt the war at the time saw
the group as drug crazed idiots. The book proves this idea wrong.
But it objectively inspects all aspects of the Weathermen. There is an
interesting comparison to the German radicals, the RAF, who were
much more violent. It is so well researched and written that the roots
of 60's ideology may become apparent to some. I relived much of
my development as a student at that time. The mystique, emotion,
and strong intellectual base is well described. And its foolishness
is put in perspective rather than ridiculed. This is one of the best
books I have ever read.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Balanced, Thoughtful Book on a Controversial Topic September 17, 2004

By K. Dale

Format:Hardcover

This is one of the best books you'll ever read on the Sixties or the movements that defined it. In examining one of the most controversial subjects to arise in that era - New Left revolutionary violence - Jeremy Varon not only gives us the first really serious examination of the Weather Underground (most often trashed by sixties activists-turned-scholars), but reveals so much more about the zeitgeist of the era - with all its promise and horror - by coupling it with an analysis of the Red Army Faction in Germany. I don't know how that other reviewer can say there's right-wing bias at work in the book when, in my reading, I see a difficult balancing act that seems to appreciate the utopian ideals of the New Left, takes seriously these radicals' intellectual journeys that led them to violence, but certainly doesn't defend the terrible things done to "bring the war home." It's really a thorough, nuanced book that, fortunately, is written so well, even non-experts will understand the complexities of the time.

I only bought this book after hearing the author speak about it at a book event in New York. Instead of a right-wing or left-wing slant, I heard someone straining to get it right; the reward is that the book does the same.