Love, Anarchy, & Emma Goldman

What this remarkable book does . . . is to remind us of that passion, that revolutionary fervor, that camaraderie, that persistence in the face of political defeat and personal despair so needed in our time as in theirs. Howard Zinn Fascinating With marvelous clarity and depth, Candace Falk illuminates for us an Emma Goldman shaped by her time yet presaging in her life the situation and conflicts of women in our time. Tillie Olsen One of the most famous political activists of all time, Emma Goldman was also infamous for her radical anarchist views and her scandalous personal life. In public, Goldman was a firebrand, confidently agitating for labor reform, anarchism, birth control, and womens independence. But behind closed doors she was more vulnerable, especially when it came to the love of her life. Reissued on the sesquicentennial of Emma Goldman's birth, Love, Anarchy, & Emma Goldman is an account of Goldmans legendary career as a political activist. But it is more than thatit is the only biography of Emma Goldman. The flow of her life and words is at its core. Here, Candace Falk offers an intimate look at how Goldmans passion for social reform dovetailed with her passion for one man: Chicago activist, hobo king, and red-light district gynecologist Ben Reitman. This takes us into the heart of their tumultuous love affair, finding that even as Goldman lectured on free love, she confronted her own intense jealousy. As director of the Emma Goldman papers, Falk had access to over 40,000 writings by Goldmanincluding her private letters and notesand she draws upon these archives to give us a rare insight into this brilliant, complex womans thoughts. The result is both a riveting love story and a primer on an exciting, explosive era in American politics and intellectual life.