Living My Life, Vol. 1

Living My Life, Vol. 1
by Emma Goldman

Living My Life, Vol. 1
List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $5.70
You Save: $10.25 (64%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Emma Goldman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1970-06-01
ISBN: 0486225437
Number of pages: 503
Publisher: Dover Publications

Book Reviews of Living My Life, Vol. 1

Book Review: Emma Goldman's autobiography--an essential document
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

Summary of Living My Life, Vol. 1

Volume 1 of the candid, no-holds-barred account by American anarchist Goldman relates her philosophical and political journey through life, beginning with her emigration from Russia to the U.S. in 1886.
 
 

Forget all those New Left memoirs: for readers who want to know what it is to be a revolutionary in America, this is the book to read. At the turn of the 20th century, Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was probably the most hated woman in her adopted country. (She emigrated from Russia at age 17.) It was bad enough that she was an anarchist, accused of complicity in the 1901 assassination of President McKinley. But her vehement espousal of women's rights--including birth control--really enraged upright citizens. Goldman's marvelously militant autobiography gives ample evidence of her gift for bearing a grudge and inability to mince words--she decries fellow leftists at least as often as the bourgeoisie, especially after she is deported to the Soviet Union in 1919 and discovers that the Bolshevik Revolution is not what she hoped for. But Goldman's blazing honesty and unflinching commitment to unpopular causes make her a larger-than-life heroine. She does display the occasional human weakness, including a lengthy romance with a man whose infidelities torment this advocate of free love, but they're less interesting than her heroic challenge to America to live up to its ideals. Whether or not she was literally a bomb thrower remains a matter of debate. For posterity, her words are incendiary enough. --Wendy Smith

Biographies & Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Biographies & Memoirs Books
I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story ImageI Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story
by Hank Aaron, Lonnie Wheeler
Harpercollins; Published: 1991-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.39
Price in other shops: $21.95
Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again ImageCracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again
by Drew Pinsky
William Morrow; Published: 2003-08-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.53
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Last Season (P.S.) ImageThe Last Season (P.S.)
by Eric Blehm
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.54
Price in other shops: $14.99
The Last Season ImageThe Last Season
by Eric Blehm
Harper; Published: 2006-04-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.97
Price in other shops: $24.95
Truck: A Love Story (P.S.) ImageTruck: A Love Story (P.S.)
by Michael Perry
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-07-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.04
Price in other shops: $13.99
My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir ImageMy Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
by Clarence Thomas
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $15.95
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans ImageAmerican Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans
by Eve LaPlante
HarperOne; Published: 2004-03-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.59
Price in other shops: $24.95
100 Missions North/a Fighter Pilot's Story of the Vietnam War Image100 Missions North/ a Fighter Pilot's Story of the Vietnam War
by Kenneth H. Bell
Brassey's Inc; Published: 1993-04; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $24.00
Macmillan Profiles:  Villains & Outlaws ImageMacmillan Profiles: Villains & Outlaws
by Et Al
MacMillan Reference Books; Published: 1998-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.93
Price in other shops: $118.75
Hawk : Occupation Skateboarder ImageHawk : Occupation Skateboarder
by Tony; Mortimer, Sean Hawk
Regan Books; Published: 2000; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
Red Emma Speaks ImageRed Emma Speaks
by Emma Goldman, Alix Kates Shulman
Humanity Books; Published: 1998-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.52
Price in other shops: $29.98
Anarchism and Other Essays ImageAnarchism and Other Essays
by Emma Goldman
Dover Publications; Published: 1969-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops: $9.95
Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World ImageRock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World
by Robin Wright
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2011-07-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.41
Price in other shops: $26.99
A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story ImageA Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story
by Elaine Brown
Anchor; Published: 1993-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran ImageThe Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran
by Robin Wright
Vintage; Published: 2001-02-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
Lakota Woman ImageLakota Woman
by Mary Crow Dog, Richard Erdoes
Harper Perennial; Published: 1991-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops: $13.99
British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) ImageBritish Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Anthony Wright
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-07-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.14
Price in other shops: $11.95
After Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain ImageAfter Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Published: 2009-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.80
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Road to Wigan Pier ImageThe Road to Wigan Pier
by George Orwell
Mariner Books; Published: 1972-10-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $14.00
Living My Life, Vol. 2 ImageLiving My Life, Vol. 2
by Emma Goldman
Dover Publications; Published: 1970-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops: $15.95