Customer Reviews

Emma Goldman: American Individualist (Library of American Biography Series)

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Emma Goldman: American Individualist is a full account of the life of one of America's most notorious anarchists. The author, John Chalberg, takes the reader from her life as a poor, abused, and repressed youngster in Russia to the United States where the blood of the workingman gives her a purpose. But, not only does Chalberg concern the reader with Emma Goldman and anarchism, he also gives a nice account of other radicals of the time, such as socialism and communism and their most noted leaders. Thus, this book provides an excellent source of American history and politics as it is coming into the age of industry. Furthermore, Chalberg presents Emma Goldman, not as an evil, unruly, unamerican anarchist, but as a dedicated, motherly, sympatheic woman simply dedicated to helping the struggling American. Emma Goldman: American Individualist is insightful, well organized, and well executed.

This book was quite interesting about the life of Emma Goldman, who she was, and what she went through. Came to me in great shape.

I was mildly starled to come across this title and a bit taken aback when I saw this book appearing in this series intended for hifh schoolers. Back when I was a youth fifty years ago, all I remember we had was the rather simplifled Landmark series on American hiatory.

As a long time tudent of U.S. political and econmic history, especially the period of the oughts and teens of the twentieth century, I have seen several mentions of Emma Goldman in relation to the labor movement, socialism, and the Red revolution in Russia.

It is astonishing to me tat the right wing book burners and the vocierous "family values" crowd have not made a big fuss; they seem to believe that if persons reads about organized labor and socialism, they will become rabble rousers and riot in the streets. This is anologous to the movement to curtail sex education for fear that if one reads about it one will be tempted to try it.

Formulaic series such as this written following a template for length by defintion cnaoot be comprehensive. Similaely the Osprey titles on milirary hiatory and the Ballantine paperbacks "History of the Violent Century" serve a valid social purpose in satisfying a basic curiousity about a topic; the mildly curious would not read a definitve 500 pager about Goldman. Provided of course, tha if such a work may displease both the radical right and the fringe wild left, proving it is as neutral in stcking to the facts and leaving opinion to other more weighty works which can cover the myriad intricacies of such a controversial person as was Goldman.

Other famous and infamous labor movement characters of the times, such as Samule Gompers and Joe Hill also need a popular work for the mildly curious.

One could look her up in Wikipedia but those entries, as written by experts, are often either too superficial or biased. No matter how much one wants to be neutral, that is the nature of the endevour. But in turn, books written by a committee are often "dumbed down" to the point of uselessness.

For some reason, the American folk song movement of the mid twentieth century was mostly left wing oriented. Major paractioners such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger were prominent. I knew the latter but not the former.

I still remember group singing back in the sixties the Joe Hill song. It is a good song and its singing meant as muxh polirically to most ofus as the singing of Amzing Grace and other folk hymns by my Jewish friends meant religiously. Some magnificent songs are no longer sung in public because they are no longer thought to be "politically correct." Jusr likw aome the WWII era cartoons, and radio and TV programs of the so-called "Golden Age" are no longer played. It seems the members of a group can safely address each other by the vilest terms, but lord help those outside who use them in their presence. :0(.

So if you have a slight interest in Goldman, this is the book for you, just as others in this series cover other once prominent persons.