Wild Child: Girlhoods in the Counterculture (Paperback)

~ (Editor), Moon Unit Zappa (Foreword) "I guess my folks were trying out something new, but me, I never knew the difference..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Antonio, New York, Rio Hondo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some may consider the hippie counterculture a bust, but the dynamic young women whose personal essays appear in this collection illustrate that it did create a subculture of strong individuals. By turns angry, sentimental and wary, the daughters of this cultural revolution meditate on the impact of their parents' choices. Zappa sets the tone in her energetic but scattered prologue celebrating individual difference. Editor Cain captures the muddy emotional landscape experienced by many girls who "live between two worlds"; her jaded yet clever report on today's Rainbow Gatherings, where folks drink camp coffee but crave cappuccino, is a highlight. In a coarse polemic, Elizabeth Sh? rages against the free love that left her without boundaries: free to do anything "[b]ut not free to say no." Cecily Schmidt gently tries to find her place in the counterculture as she poetically honors her quiet parents, who instilled in her a love of the land and a powerful sense of self. Veggie diets, too much pot and persistent poverty drove many hippies back into the mainstream, although some of their children didn't accompany them. As a group, these voices, which join those of other notable hippie kids, such as Jedidiah Purdy and Lisa Michaels (whose Split: A Counterculture Childhood is excerpted in this volume), are a powerful sign that a change may still be coming. This mixed bag is a worthwhile document from a great, if troubled, experiment. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Tofu casseroles, communes, clothing-optional kindergarten, antiwar protests - these are just a few of the hallmarks of a counterculture childhood. What became of kids who had been denied meat, exposed to free love, and given nouns for names? In Wild Child, daughters of the hippie generation speak about the legacy of their childhoods. The writers present a rearview mirror to contemporary culture; with an eye on the past they remind us that there is more than one path through the present. Contributors include Lisa Michaels (Split) and Ariel Gore (Hip Mama).

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; First edition. edition (October 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158005031X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580050319
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,966 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Testimonies about a Sweet, but Brief, Dream, May 6, 2002

By	Marcy A. Sheiner "marquest" (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a mom who raised two children partially within hippie culture, I am intensely curious about how other kids raised similarly turned out. Wild Child didn't completely sate my curiosity, but it whetted my appetite to go out and read more books on this topic (they're coming fast and furious now).

One funny thing about "being a hippie" is that many of us feel like we weren't *real* enough, compared to, say Wavy Gravy or the Deadheads. Sure, my kids went to alternative schools, witnessed more sex than shrinks would advise, and loved riding around in our beige VW bus, standing on the seats so they could wave to passers-by from the open sunroof. But I only lived communally for three years; I held down a respectable office job; and at one point I even cut my hair.

Wild Child quelled my feelings of being a fraud by showing that there were a lot of different ways to be a hippie. One girl's family traveled back and forth cross-country in a mail truck bought at auction; another spent time working the sugar fields of Belize. About the only thing they all had in common was being embarrassed to reveal the contents of their lunchboxes to classmates-and having a lot of strange people wandering around their homes, whether they lived in a house, bus or teepee.

For me the most powerful piece was the editor's: "Welcome Home," in which she describes attending a latter-day Rainbow Gathering. Having already lived the real thing, the gathering's painstaking efforts to replicate hippie life cannot possibly impress or move her.

Only one contributor is angry about her childhood: she is furious about the omnipresent sexuality she was exposed to almost from infancy. For the most part, though, the contributors enjoyed their childhood and still love and appreciate their parents and what they were trying to do. Interestingly, none of them have chosen to adopt the hippie lifestyle--though many have retained its core values of peace, love, and self-sufficiency.

I recommend Wild Child to anyone with a vested interest in hippiedom-for instance, parents seeking validation for their child-rearing methods. It's also a fine antidote to hippie-bashing, considered sophisticated now even by those who once embraced the lifestyle. The truth is, it was a brilliant and optimistic moment in history. If it didn't transform the world completely, well, it did affect future generations-as Wild Child eloquently testifies.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and important historical perspective., February 21, 2000

By	Richard La Rosa (California) - See all my reviews

This is a deeply felt collection of essays with the single unifying theme of what it was like, for several girls, to be raised by parents that embraced the values and lifestyles of the American counterculture. Most of the essays are episodic, briefly exploring specific experiences. All of them are well written, combining personal histories with an easy narrative flow. I was very moved by one essay in particular -- "Free Love Ain't," by Elizabeth She -- a heartbreakingly honest and brave account of a girl's exposure to the frank sexuality of the free love philosophy of the sixties and seventies. She's description of her experiences and the subsequent psychological repercussions of the free love legacy is a true example of what makes a good memoir. Brava to Chelsea Cain for assembling these stories. The Adult Children of Flower Children have a powerful voice.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Mirror, February 8, 2000

By	Eaglefeather (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Wild Child is a well written collection of short essays which remind us that the hippie generation cannot be put into a single category. Some were loving, caring parents who found greater meaning in life through simplicity, and an idealistic dream for a better world. Others were abusive, addicted jerks whose parenting was disastrous. But the question remains, how does this differ from any other segment of society?

The suggestion in the synopsis that children raised by hippie parents endured anything more than children of straights simply because they "endured" tofu, communes, nudism and protests, rather than roast beef, suburbs, ruffles and Sunday school is preposterous. As the essays make clear, children are children. They all endure the influences of their parents, and they all rebel. And, if they are lucky, they eventually find their own way. Chelsea Cain does a nice job of pulling together an assortment of writings which provide an excellent mirror for parents of all generations to reflect upon the values they instill, be it through their words or their deeds. This book should be of particular interest to those young adults who thought their parents strange and longed for more convention in their lives. Likewise it should appeal to parents who themselves were part of the hippie generation and struggled to raise their children with values which transcended the dominant American culture.