Customer Reviews

Living My Life, Vol. 1

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Goldman's autobiography is a long read, but I implore anyone with a critical mind and a feeling of social consiousness to pick it up at once. The book is testimony of the powerful eloquence and charisma of Emma Goldman, who managed to weave the minute details of the lives of some of our most brilliant and--by virtue of their radicalism--unknown revolutionary activists of turn-of-the-century America and abroad into an absorbing and intense piece of non-fiction. The historical events recorded in this autobiography--often day-by-day accounts--reveal a different perspective of what we're taught in high school history classes, which often portray great movements in societies as the product of one person's toil--usually an ex-president. Goldman chronicles a huge network of vibrant social activists--Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, Humanists, Suffragists, just to name a few--who often worked long hours by day to support themselves while working for their causes at night.

The details are both inspiring and disturbing, as the actions of the American public and its government against immigrants, activists, or anyone else whom it deemed un-american are described with clarity by the victim who lived through it, and not by the patriot historian. One of the most heartwrenching descriptions in the entire book is the mass deportation to Russia on Christmas, 1919, of hundreds of first and second-generation Russian immigrants(Goldman included), many of whom could not even speak Russian.

Much of the second volume is devoted to Goldman's life in Russia after her deportation--a period of her life that is a book in itself. It includes rich details of post-revolutionary Russia-- conversations with Lenin, train rides to remote regions of the country, visits to towns deracinated by the Russian pogroms against the Jews, and her eventual unceremonious departure from the country.

As I already mentioned, the book is a long read. I'd recommend taking a break between volumes one and two. It's worth the time it takes to get through it. Emma Goldman's autobiography is an essential document for anyone who harbors a passion for social change, a curiousity about turn-of-the-century America or the Bolshevik Revolution, or just enjoys good non-fiction.

In her autobiography Emma Goldman explains her life, narrating the experience of marching to her own drummer. Depending on the reader's political expectations, Emma's life is either inspiring or downright terrifying. Those who believe in social conformity would probably be more comfortable moving on to other fodder.

Nevertheless, this eyewitness account of American and Russian history, ought not to be trivially dismissed. Emma fought for things we have taken for granted in modern life, such as birth-control and the eight-hour work day; she went to jail in the struggle to obtain these for us. This book explains how she lived her commitment to individual liberty, choosing who she would love, advocating revolution, and harrassing those of her "allies" who compromised on these principles.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book is her years in Russia. Here she describes arriving at the "Promised Land" of the peoples' revolution and how that mutated into a sense of disillusionment and horror at what she saw as the betrayal of that revolution by the "dictatorship of the proletariat."

Her writing style is nothing exceptional, but the story she weaves from the material of her life is nothing short of fascinating. Another reviewer suggested taking a break between volumes--I couldn't! I had to know what happened next.

Although there are a lot of pages to wade through, I will give this book as a gift to the young women in my life. I believe that Emma can serve as a role model for living one's own life, not living out the expectations of friends, family, or society. In a dysfunctional world, we have too few people who model this.

Emma gets three stars for writing style, but the powerful and plentiful content bring the rating up to five stars. Not to be missed.

(If you'd like to discuss this book or review, click on the "about me" link above & drop me an email. Thanks!)

I could not disagree more with Goldman's ultimate philosophical conclusions, but I enjoyed this book, and volume II as well. Her essential humanity emerges, and it is a good case study and an interesting read, historically, philosophically and personally. She is no Mark Twain or Billy Faulkner, but her life was interesting and her prose adequately conveys the milieu she became enmeshed in. A fair degree of antecedent historical knowledge is necessary to fully enjoy this book, but you most likely have that or you wouldn't be reading about Emma to begin with. If you don't, or find that you are getting lost in the history and sequence, it would pay to do a little research to better understand what she lived through. It will also help you spot bias on Goldman's part. I heartily recommend this book. It is informative, enlightening and entertaining to boot.

Though Emma Goldman has finally begun to be recognized by some people, she still is an unknown quantity to many. Anarchy. We hear "anarchy" and shudder. For Emma, anarchy was based on her belief in the innate goodness of man. Government takes away rights, rather than preserves them. We must learn to act outside the constraints of government and society. And we msut accept responsibility for our acts as she did for hers. She fought long and hard for individual rights. Her life wasn't easy; but it was HER life. Her autobiography is wonderfully fluid and a joy to read, even though English was not her native language. She inspires by her example and gives a riveting portrait of America from the 1890's through the 1920's. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK

This is the best autobiography I've ever read, because her life was lived with such commitment & independence. Certainly, she was hugely influential in her time, but her success was scratched out of nothing, with no support, and huge opposition. The difficulties and the times are conveyed amazingly well. The book will make you look carefully at your own life ... in ways that can only change it for the better.

NOTE: THIS IS VOLUME ONE ONLY! It's a great book but it is not labeled as just the first half of the memoir.

The passage of time has not diluted the importance of Emma Goldman's contribution to the perpetual struggle for basic human and workers rights. Her life's experiences not only serve as a reminder of how durable the human spirit is under extreme conditions, but of how inhuman society can be. Superb and uplifting reading!

I heard about "Living My Life" after hearing American Historian, Howard Zinn, discuss EG in an audio lecture CD I own. I stumbled upon a "women's studies" copy of it in a used book store back in early 2003. I couldn't put the book down!!! Even though it was less than the original 993 pages....it was long and it was CAPTIVATING!!!

Emma not only had the gift of critical thinking, and public speaking, but she had the natural ability to write so descriptively that you felt like you were transported back in time and were there with her as she was going through the experience for the first time!!!

Howard Zinn has said that of the books that his students (thoughout the years of his teaching in college) were required to read....Living My Life was the top favorite book. I only wish that I had had a teacher in high school who had recommended this book to me. I feel certain that I would have lived a very different life....full of more positive experiences & had developed a stronger sense of myself earlier in my life...if I had found this book during my teen years than in my thirties!

Emma Goldman was a TRUELY American Patriot who believed in the power of the freely-educated critical thinker to be the best decision-maker of what is best for him or herself...not political "leaders", the police state, the church "leaders" or even one's parents necessarily...when we seek to rule others we diminish other's self-respect.

If you want to expose your mind to a truly liberating experience....you will read "Living My Life"!!! Once wasn't enough for me....I am now reading for the second time!!