The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground

by Ron Jacobs

Bombing its way into the headlines of the early 1970s, the Weather Underground was one of the most dramatic symbols of the anger felt by young Americans opposed to the US presence in Vietnam. Mauled in street battles with the Chicago police during the Days of Rage demonstrations, Weather concluded that traditional political protest was insufficient to end the war. They turned instead to underground guerrilla combat.

In this highly readable history, Ron Jacobs captures the hair-raising drama of a campaign which planted bombs in banks, military installations and, twice on successive days, in the US Capitol. He describes the group’s formation of clandestine revolutionary cells, its leaders’ disavowal of monogamous relationships, and their use of LSD to strengthen bonds between members. He recounts the operational failures of the group—three members died when a bomb they were building exploded in Greenwich Village—as well as its victories including a successful jailbreak of Timothy Leary. Never short-changing the fierce debates which underpinned the Weather’s strategy, Jacobs argues that the groups eventual demise resulted as much from the contradictions of its politics as from the increasingly repressive FBI attention.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Activism, The United States Of America, American History, Terrorism

226 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Ron Jacobs writes for Counterpunch. He lives in Vermont, USA.

Reviews

[Eric G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this book because I was trying to pay attention to every single word printed. As a person who is endlessly interested in the points of historical interconnectedness and factionalism of the Left, this book that details the Weather Underground and its activities in the late 60's and 70's was fascinating. I had trouble deciding whether to put this under the politics shelf or cultural studies because it is the heart of an internal debate I am having concerning these social movements. In the left, there has always been great debate surrounding the issue of reform vs. revolution; Marx started this with Proudhon which went onto include Bakunin, the Italians became more militant than the French and German anarchists, and most famously, Rosa Luxembourg went onto pen "Reform or Revolution" when she herself adopted and argued for the German Social Democracy project in parliamentarianism. Thus, such questions have been debated - along with strategies thereof - for what seems like the birth of the Ultra left (Socialism) Ideology. Most importantly, there were questions of whether to use violence to overthrow state power, the trust a vanguard party to speed up the revolution (leninist view), or to align yourself with reformist groups despite revolutionary activity. The Weather Underground pondered such questions and came to stark, militant conclusions. They proceeded to become one of the most violent, reactionary left wing groups to emerge from the factions of the 60's radicalism. Using questionable tactics, extreme measures, and rigid advocacy, the Weather Underground carved out a relative niche for themselves in the eyes of the US left and US government alike. As much as the Weather wanted to affect, the group did much to intellectually plant the seeds of its own demise as the US government did literally to infiltrate the group and much of the counter culture of the 1960s. The most tragic part of studying the history of people's moves toward democracy toward social movements, is the lengths that Power will go to disrupt and destroy the moves. The reason why a lot of the members of such radical groups didn't spend the rest of their lives in jail is because the US government was guilty of breaking equal, if not more amounts of crime to indict the groups in the first place. The hypocrisy is too obvious. There hasn't been one group or one organization I have read about that didn't end up having multiple infiltrators (working for the US government) in either its upper echelons or its higher leadership. Some have even speculated based on circumstantial evidence, that certain groups Simbonese Liberation for instance, were actually created BY the US government to turn public opinion against the left. The evidence for this is staggering and emptying in its implications. It is sad evidence to see what the FBI, local law enforcement, and the CIA did in order to suppress the radicalism of the 1960s. Such beautiful moves towards progressive, substantial, and democratic change were taking place in the culture of the 1960s...

unfortunately we will never know for some time what those moves would have meant, because as per usual, those in power would rather use unjust means to consolidate and conserve power rather than let people move towards equality. There is something very uplifting in reading about the ideological disputes, schisms, and disagreements that were had during the late 60's. It seems like despite similar amount of factionalism, the Left was able to organize and come together to combat certain systems of thought and power structures. Such groups were the opposite of apathetic and should be the source of much inspiration and encouragements for those interested in transforming social conditions. The subtext of this book is telling, as it frames the ideological rubrics of tension and the strategies that were ineffective.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by the Weather Underground for quite some time. They were a group of people who were willing to sacrifice all they had for a larger cause. I disagree with them on some issues and agree with them on others, but I can't question their level of passion or their willingness to back up their rhetoric with action.

Jacobs does a good job of presenting what amounts to an introduction to Weather. He takes us through the organization's chronology and addresses both their successes and their failures. He also gives the reader a picture of them in relation to other left-wing groups of the era. And he raises various issues regarding race, gender, and class, as well as indivdual freedom or lack thereof in the U.S.

I think his reluctance to delve more deeply into the driving personalities behind Weather was a mistake. It was inevitably a personality-driven group due to its small size. I would also have appreciated more input from former Weather members in the current era, or looking back on their time in Weather, in other words. Though to be fair to Jacobs, he might have asked to interview them and been refused. There is a leftist slant to the writing, though Jacobs admits as much at the outset, so it's tolerable.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really quick read and incredibly informative. Traces the Weather development from SDS through the arrests of many of its members in the 1970s--not only a history of the actions and changing ideologies of Weather but a great general overview of leftist, feminist, anti-war and anti-racist movements of the era. And super-relevant to our current social and political climate.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

so, i'm in chicago now. and theres some chicago history everyone should know about. the weather underground is some of that history.

i already knew about them, i've read at least two other books specifically about the weather and this was by far the worst one. the information was just very bland. no interviews with members of the weather, it was more like the authors personal account of his memories about this revolutionary movement in the 60's and 70's.

the pictures werent even very good and this was very much lacking in the post weather lives of some of the most prominent members. specifically the folks that went on to rob banks with the BLA.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book is tagged as a "comprehensive" history of the Weather Underground, I'm not sure if promoters use the term correctly. It talks about lots of things, but it doesn't quite do the narrative justice, nor does it spend enough time to help readers without much knowledge of SDS and Weather find their bearings and grasp the significance of the Weatherman organization. That leaves the book with one other possible task: deliver a survey of facts with a measure of clarity. Even here, the book suffers periods of murkiness that are distracting. I'll be looking for another history of the organization before I try to say anything intelligent about it.

[David McKay · Rating 4 out of 5]

another book where i assume my fondness of the book has a lot to do with when/where i read it. i seem to remember reading most of this book in union square and central park during a nice fall vacation out there, usually followed by meeting up with friends in the east village for drinks afterward. made for a good read at the time. now all this bill ayers stuff is blowing up, and i feel like i'm a little bit in the know, especially as it's concerning something that happened before i was born, that i really don't get taught about in school.

[Jennifer]

Muy Bueno!

[Bhaskar Sunkara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent account and a short and easy read, but very, very flawed politically and way too soft on these little self-aggrandizing shits.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

7.5/10

[sube · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cut-and-dry history of the Weather Underground Organisation (WUO) - later on it also discusses the Prairie Fire Organisation Committee (PFOC). The focus here is placed on its origin & peak, PFOC meanwhile takes a less key place here, relegated to parts of 6th chapter, and then being discussed in the 7th and 8th chapters - nonetheless, it provided me a good overview over the organisation(s), why they would at the end demise, etc.

However, it is not particularly 'deep' for the reasons *why* it failed - moreso a descriptive account. And at times when it discusses mistakes, they are mistaken, e.g. criticising WUO for not being uncritical enough of veterans, unlike other New Left formations.

Nonetheless, gave me a good overview.

[Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that gives a very good overview and chronology of the Weather Underground. I appreciate that Jacob’s goes into both their successes and failures and constantly uses the critiques of other contemporary leftists groups in reference to Weathers actions.

I would’ve liked the book to dive a bit more into the personalities and give a bit more of a detailed account of who the people behind weather - the people who were so passionate that they went underground for sometimes decades - were.

Apart from that, I think this is a pretty great entry work that still works, even if you know some stuff about the group.

[David Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't seem like the most impartial book. More like a disappointed believer summing up the errors that stopped them achieving their goal of revolution. Some interesting articles and a timeline through Weather's various forms. An interesting group, surely not too long til we see Hollywood glamorising them out of the reality of what they really were.

[Ronald J Schulz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info.