Red Dust and Broadsides: A Joint Autobiography (Paperback)

~ Agnes Cunningham (Author), Gordon Friesen (Author), Pete Seeger (Foreword) "Dust churned up into the hot summer sky as the Indians in their war paint rode their ponies around and around the small wagon train..." (more)
Key Phrases: stock chaser, topical songs, song magazine, New York, Communist Party, Oklahoma City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Perhaps best-known for "Broadside", a magazine founded in 1962, Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and Gordon Friesen are radicals on the American left. This is the story of the two dedicated social activists, offering an account of their personal and political odyssey.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558492100
• ISBN-13: 978-1558492103
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,634,885 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't That a Time!, January 17, 2001

By	Randall Barnhart (Earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After 55 years of intense and rabid anti-communism, most people can be excused for accepting the old cliches about American Communists: dour, unfeeling and fanatical in their devotion to Moscow's orders. This joint autobiography of Agnes (Sis) Cunningham and Gordon Frieson shows us that, instead, Communists tended to be pretty much like all of us. Driven by a desire to create a better America and repelled by the "everything's for sale" attitude of the two main political parties, they labored through poverty, blacklisting, lynch mobs and government sabotage towards that better America. And they did it all with a song on their lips and in their hearts. An excellent book for those who want to know more about a period when only the very brave questioned the government and the system we live under.

5.0 out of 5 stars Highlander is WRONG!, January 10, 2010

By	Raymond Clearwater - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am also an older man, one that lived with Sis and Gordon in the late 60s and had his songs published by Broadside. It was my experience that these were some of the kindest and most considerate people that I have ever met. They were generous to a fault, and at least at that point, were only interested in letting the world read, and hear, other peoples music. They created and put out a magazine that allowed us all to express our feelings and insights, regardless of our political or social affiliations, and to share a very much appreciated common bond with other writers. It was a pleasure to know them and an experience that I will treasure forever.

This man Highlander (one of the other reviews) is certainly welcomed to his opinion, but in his attempt to associate Sis and Gordon with all that was wrong in HIS mind and memories, he only succeeds in dishonoring some of the very people that fought so hard to wake up this Country, and actually do something about all the crap that it was standing for at the time. Unless of course you happen to be among those that think that McCarthyism, Racism and Viet Nam were not only appropriate but justified as well. To include Sis and Gordon along with a GROUP that he refers to as having amoral ethics, and to accuse them of lying and committing criminal acts just because he KNEW PEOPLE LIKE THIS - is nothing but a very sad failing on his part, and has absolutely nothing to do with the people that I knew and loved.

I wouldn't say that the book itself is all that interesting, but then again, I'm not a history buff, just a person that knew Sis and Gordon well enough to know that they were very kind and certainly committed to exposing the truth as they knew it. Remember, they worked with people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, Bob Dylan, Phil Oaks and many others, including myself, then known as Christopher Gaylord, that spent most of their lives fighting on one level or another to afford us all a bit of light.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DREARY BEYOND BELIEF, January 22, 2007

By	RBI "HIGHLANDER" (UTAH) - See all my reviews

OKAY, I GAVE THIS BOOK 5 STARS, NOT BECAUSE IT WAS A GOOD BOOK, IT WAS NOT, BUT BECAUSE I REALLY WANT PEOPLE TO READ IT. I GREW UP WITH PEOPLE LIKE "SIS" CUNNINGHAM AND GORDON FRIESEN AND WAS MYSELF ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN MANY OF THE SAME MOVEMENTS DISCUSSED. I AM AN OLD MAN AND CAN LOOK BACK WITH SOME AMOUNT OF OBJECTIVITY. YES, WE HIT UPON CAUSES THAT WERE JUST AND MADE COMPLETE SENSE. WHO WOULDN'T TRY TO STOP LYNCHINGS, RACISM, CORRUPTION IN POLITICS AND CORRUPTION IN BIG BUSINESS AND THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS. AT THE SAME TIME THESE PEOPLE WERE IN EFFECT ORGANIZERS FOR THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND THEIR AVOWED PURPOSE, WHICH IS HISTORICAL FACT, WAS THE OVERTHROW OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM AND IN EFFECT THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. THEY WERE PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKERS, NOT PARTICULARLY INTELLIGENT,OR HISTORICALLY CENTERED, WHO REALLY CARED MORE ABOUT THE "MOVEMENT" OR "REVOLUTION" THAN THE PEOPLE THEY PURPORTED TO BE HELPING. THEIR ETHICS WERE AT BEST AMORAL AND LYING OR CRIMINAL ACTS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR ENDS WERE TOTALLY JUSTIFIED. I WAS THERE, I KNOW. IT IS A DREARY, BORING, DEPRESSING ACCOUNT OF SOCIAL MALCONTENTS AND MISFITS WHO PROJECTED THEIR OWN MISERY ON THE ENTIRE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE. IMAGINE THESE PEOPLE BEING IN CONTROL AND IMAGINE HOW MUCH FUN IT WOULD BE TO LIVE IN A SOVIET STYLE STATE. READ THE BOOK, IT WILL SCARE YOU, OR AT LEAST IT SHOULD.