Portraits From Memory : New Orleans In The Sixties [Paperback]

Darlene Fife (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2000

A memoir of of the underground newspaper, NOLA Express, in New Orleans, the people that produced it and the community it served. NOLA Express at its peak sold 11,000 copies every two weeks. In a landmark decision in 1971 the editors beat federal obscenity charges.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I didn't want those years to be forgotten.

About the Author

Darlene Fife was born August 23, 1940. She graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in physics and an M.A. in English. Studied at University College Dublin and with Robert Head returned to the US in 1966 to stop the war in Vietnam. She and Robert Head edited NOLA Express from 1968-74. She presently lives in West Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Surregional Press (September 10, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 1931165009
• ISBN-13: 978-1931165006
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,094,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remembering NOLA Express, October 2, 2000

By 

Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz "Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, w... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portraits From Memory : New Orleans In The Sixties (Paperback)

What a wonderful surprise to find this beautiful book while searching the internet for information on New Orleans during the period I lived there, 1970-72. I am writing a memoir about the Sixties, and this book is a real gem. Of course, I knew Darlene Fife, the author of "Portraits from Memory," and Robert Head as publishers of the notorious "NOLA Express" bimonthly, but I was a political radical and kept my distance from the counterculture. Reading Darlene's memoir, I realized how truly radical she and the paper were, and also remembered how supportive they were to me, however unappreciative I was at the time. I recommend the book to anyone who cares about literature, free speech, the sixties and the undereground press, early environmentalism, New Orleans, the nuts and bolts of community organizing, and anyone who appreciates a beautifully produced book from a small regional press that deserves support.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portraits from Memory: New Orleans in the Sixties, October 16, 2000

By 

Steven Laurence Hutchins (Lewisburg, wv USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portraits From Memory : New Orleans In The Sixties (Paperback)

Darlene Fife's new book "Portraits from Memory: New Orleans in the Sixties" in a Memoir in the finest sense of the word. It is refreshing to read someone who is so self-deprecatingly honest about her own feelings and thoughts during the time she was Editor of one of the most important "underground newspapers" in America. This is not a "history" book filled with data, facts and figures striving to make a past time more understandable. The book is a series of connected written snapshots of a Time and Place, highlighting some of the people that the author grew and evolved with. It does not matter if you think that the people portrayed in this book are multi-manically insane, depraved drug addicts, dangerous political operatives, or sainted hipsters. The strongly held beliefs and political passions of all of the characters shines through the writing. There were "cells" like Darlene's operating all over during the sixties, one wonders how candidly other writers would deal with theirs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing up and learning not to be blind, October 15, 2000

By 

Robert H Fry (Union, Wv United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portraits From Memory : New Orleans In The Sixties (Paperback)

The alarm sounded by babes just learning about life - The continued energy that was necessary to actually protest our involvement in Vietnam in a way that helped make the American people aware of what we were really doing while at the same time living, loving, searching, finding. This is life in the trenches comittment and FUN -The pictures - that's how it was -The cartoons - A brisk slap that says question question question -Honoring the lode stone within Bob's what's interesting - important to me now and in that there's a lesson for us all- The clearest moves come spontaneous for those with the courage to honor their way of thinking instead of buying the - this is the way it is - farm It's a little history that paints a clearer picture than most. It belongs on a lot of shelves.