0 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:0.0

Emily L. Quint Freeman’s Followers (5)

Emily’s Bookshelves

to-read (1)
currently-reading (0)
read (0)

Emily’s Friends

Emily hasn't connected with her friends on Goodreads, yet.

Emily L. Quint Freeman

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.emilyqfreeman.com

Genre

Memoir, Gay and Lesbian, Nonfiction

Member Since

November 2019

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/elqfreeman

edit data

This vivid, no holds barred page turner, Failure to Appear: Resistance, Identity and Loss, is about a lesbian of conscience who became a fugitive, on the run for over nineteen years using several identities. A gripping story about finding your true self and your sexual truth during the turbulent late sixties through the late eighties, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the Nixon and Reagan years, the Women's and Gay Liberation movements, and the AIDS crisis.

Emily's story delves into family rejection, the price of ideals, lost love, the agony of an underground existence, and personal renewal. As a university student, she became an activist for peace and social justice. One May night in 1969, Emily and seventeen others hauled somewhere This vivid, no holds barred page turner, Failure to Appear: Resistance, Identity and Loss, is about a lesbian of conscience who became a fugitive, on the run for over nineteen years using several identities. A gripping story about finding your true self and your sexual truth during the turbulent late sixties through the late eighties, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the Nixon and Reagan years, the Women's and Gay Liberation movements, and the AIDS crisis.

Emily's story delves into family rejection, the price of ideals, lost love, the agony of an underground existence, and personal renewal. As a university student, she became an activist for peace and social justice. One May night in 1969, Emily and seventeen others hauled somewhere around 40,000 records of draft-eligible men from the draft board office on the South Side of Chicago and burned them, as an act of non-violent civil disobedience against the Vietnam War and racism. The group waited at the scene, singing "We Shall Overcome", and were arrested. She takes us on her journey, living underground for 19 years, before finally emerging into the light.

FAILURE TO APPEAR is a fierce coming of age story of a political activist, a young woman and of a generation. When it becomes as clear to the reader as it does to Emily Freeman that “In a mad country, it’s sane to be insane” the urgency of being a part of progressive change is a body slam that takes your breath away. That visceral response is even stronger when we understand that this truth is as crucial today as it was in our country’s past. This book takes its place alongside the searing and sensitive memoirs of other moral dissenters who’ve helped change the course of our history --Jewelle Gomez, Author of The Gilda Stories

This is a thoroughly detailed document of a lesbian in a closet within a closet. As compelling as a novel, it brings back the conflicts and clashes of the 1960s, the misunderstood compassion for our soldiers in Vietnam, and the consequences of one woman's principled and inspiring resistance. I was ever eager to return to her story each time I had to put it down -- Lee Lynch, Award Winning Author of The Swashbuckler, An American Queer, Rainbow Gap, and more

EMILY L QUINT FREEMAN has appeared on CNN Evening News and NPR’s All Things Considered; interviewed by numerous progressive radio stations, such as KPFA; and covered/quoted in The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, National Catholic Reporter, Associated Press, InfoWeek, Wired, and The John Liner Review, among others When she isn’t writing, you might find Emily planting veggie seeds in her garden or at her piano playing Scriabin.

...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

Emily L. Quint Freeman is currently not accepting new questions.

Combine Editions
Emily L. Quint Freeman’s books

Average rating: 4.64 · 22 ratings · 13 reviews · 1 distinct work

Failure to Appear : Resistance, Identity and Loss. A Memoir

4.64 avg rating — 22 ratings — 2 editions

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

3 posts
Emily L. Quint Freeman's Blog

Evite for Book Launch

Failure To Appear Book Launch
Bird & Beckett Bookstore and Records
San Francisco
March 8th, 2:00 PM

Follow this link or connect through my website.
http://evite.me/vdxK7MbzuG

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 04, 2020 08:24 • Tags: www-emilyqfreeman-com

View all 3 posts »

recent posts
Emily’s Groups

The Backlot Gay Book Forum — 1437 members — last activity Mar 11, 2026 08:34AM
The members of The Backlot (formerly AfterElton) love to chat about the latest in gay books. With the site changing, we're moving the discussion here. ...more

The Liberal Politics & Current Events Book Club — 988 members — last activity Feb 12, 2023 06:02PM
Do you enjoy keeping up with politics? Are you interested in current events and contemporary history? Do you consider yourself leftist, liberal, socia ...more

Queereaders — 21235 members — last activity Mar 11, 2026 08:24AM
A group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and supporters interested in fun and stimulating conversation about books, movies, art, ...more

Lesbian Book Club — 4991 members — last activity Feb 08, 2026 11:42AM
Come and read with us. Here there are classics, non-fiction, fiction, and many more in LGBTQA+ literature. Find authors that you would have never read ...more

The Sapphic Squad — 6967 members — last activity Mar 07, 2026 01:18AM
A book group for reading sapphic books and connecting over our often-obscure favorites! At least for now we're predominantly-YA but adult recs are ALW ...more

Oprah's Book Club (Official) — 85926 members — last activity 12 minutes ago
Welcome to the official Oprah's Book Club group. OBC is the interactive, multi-platform reading club bringing passionate readers together to discuss i ...more

The Feminist Orchestra Bookclub — 4576 members — last activity Mar 11, 2026 05:04AM
Discover and recommend more feminist reads here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/96419.The_Feminist_Orchestra_Potential_Reading_List We're also o ...more

More of Emily’s groups…

Emily’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.