What do you think?
Rate this book
Full Circle: A Life in Rebellion
Full Circle is the story of a life in rebellion, as told by Ben Morea. From his beginnings growing up with jazz and heroin in a New York City ghetto and his turn to radical art and militant politics — which culminated in the late-‘60s push for “total revolution” vis-a-vis the notorious collectives Black Mask and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker — to the lesser-known years following his disappearance into the wilderness and the path that led eventually to animism and his adoption into a Native American spiritual tradition, this epic narrative spans the whole of Morea’s life from 1941 to the present, reflecting on his remarkable experiences of struggle and its changing contours over eighty years. Based on a series of conversations which began in 2020, it represents a monumental effort of transmission, that seeks to draw insight and inspiration from this life-long revolutionary journey and pass it on for the generations to come. What emerges is a unique form of literature blending oral history and legend in a playful philosophical dialogue, compelled by urgent and profound questions facing all of us who struggle for a better world today.
220 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2025
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Read
July 1, 2025Black Mask, Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, and the International Werewolf Conspiracy (the IWWF) were incredibly important to me as a young person, and some of their writing continues to be some of my all time favorite.
"Until our most fantastic demands are met, fantasy will be at war with society. Society attempts to suppress fantasy, but fantasy springs up again and again, infecting the youth, waging urban guerrilla warfare, sabotaging the smooth functioning of bureaucracies, waylaying the typist on her way to the water-cooler, kidnapping the executive between office and home, creeping into the bedrooms of respectable families, hiding in the chambers of high office, gradually tightening its control, eventually emerging into the streets, waging pitched battles and winning (its victory is inevitable)." Some real Bacchus energy there.
All of these groups and their participants have been shrouded in mystery until recent years, and Morea's set of interviews really shines some important light on the times. (I would also recommend Osha Neumann's Up Against the Wall Motherfucker: A Memoir of the '60s, with Notes for Next Time.)
*I highly recommend Full Circle.*
I found myself really appreciating anecdotes about being young and wild and free in NYC in the 60s, insights into the counterculture (I loved Morea talking shit on the Velvet Underground--even though I love them--and Andy Warhol, defending Canned Heat, I would have liked to hear him talk more about Jefferson Airplane, who overlapped some with Up Against the Wall and turned one of their leaflets into "We Can Be Together" as the legends go...), and limits that Morea eventually found with the scene and lifestyle.
Morea's time after NYC has kind of been a mystery for years. We only heard that he had 'gone into the wilderness' and the interviews flesh out that time more, which I was eager to hear about.
Here are things I wish there had been a little more of (and if anyone reading this knows Morea, feel free to ask!):
I wanted a more direct and critical reflection from Morea about his time in Black Mask, etc and his time in the wilderness and homestead. It's hard to describe, because Morea is critical at times, but not fully the way I was wanting. He talks about a Native practice of never turning around fully, so perhaps this is linked to that, but I wanted more. (Neumann definitely gets into the warts in his book if you're wanting a more critical reflection.)
Towards the end, the 1000 voices collective started pushing back more against some of the things Morea was saying, but I wanted them to engage him more critically at times. Early on there's mostly praise and admiration in response to what Morea's saying. And this can be an effective interviewing tool (and admittedly I would not have gotten as much from Morea if I had debated him, so hats off to 1000 voices). But there are times where Morea is complaining about things like how much sugar people give their children, and he's like 'political people aren't talking about this. they don't want to hear it.' And it's like, dude, you've been out of touch for a while, but there are entire branches of political people who will not shut up about this.
I think a lot of modern anarchists are drawn to Black Mask etc and this book because of their anti-organizationalist approach, where there isn't a hierarchy or formal decision making process in a group. People come up with ideas and desires, and pursue them. If other people want to join them, great. If not, even better. It can be incredibly effective, and generally how I prefer to work.
But as someone who has lived in this milieu on and off for a while, I think there's some flaws with it. In terms of interpersonal dynamics, it's easy for more strong-willed people to get their way and more passive people to just sort of go along for the ride, sometimes just ending up in the imagination or orbit of more active people. And since everything is under the banner of 'we're each autonomous and doing what we want' it can be harder to spot and address power dynamics when they turn bad. I suspect that Morea was one of the driving forces of these groups (and his time in the wilderness and homesteading) and would have liked more awareness and reflection on that.
You can see a similar dynamic play out in the streets during protests and riots, where a small group of people is asserting their will and sometimes influencing events to the point of steering or controlling them, but since it's under that same banner of 'we're each autonomous and doing what we want' it can be hard to actually talk about the power that position holds and the good and the bad in it. Once again, would have liked to hear Morea reflect on that.
And to be fair, these are dynamics it took friends and I a long time to be aware of and reflect on, and I would like anyone in the milieu to reflect on this as much as I want Morea to.
Those critiques aside, this is an excellent set of conversations with an octogenarian anarchist reflecting on their life. For me, that is always a must read.
"Until our most fantastic demands are met, fantasy will be at war with society. Society attempts to suppress fantasy, but fantasy springs up again and again, infecting the youth, waging urban guerrilla warfare, sabotaging the smooth functioning of bureaucracies, waylaying the typist on her way to the water-cooler, kidnapping the executive between office and home, creeping into the bedrooms of respectable families, hiding in the chambers of high office, gradually tightening its control, eventually emerging into the streets, waging pitched battles and winning (its victory is inevitable)." Some real Bacchus energy there.
All of these groups and their participants have been shrouded in mystery until recent years, and Morea's set of interviews really shines some important light on the times. (I would also recommend Osha Neumann's Up Against the Wall Motherfucker: A Memoir of the '60s, with Notes for Next Time.)
*I highly recommend Full Circle.*
I found myself really appreciating anecdotes about being young and wild and free in NYC in the 60s, insights into the counterculture (I loved Morea talking shit on the Velvet Underground--even though I love them--and Andy Warhol, defending Canned Heat, I would have liked to hear him talk more about Jefferson Airplane, who overlapped some with Up Against the Wall and turned one of their leaflets into "We Can Be Together" as the legends go...), and limits that Morea eventually found with the scene and lifestyle.
Morea's time after NYC has kind of been a mystery for years. We only heard that he had 'gone into the wilderness' and the interviews flesh out that time more, which I was eager to hear about.
Here are things I wish there had been a little more of (and if anyone reading this knows Morea, feel free to ask!):
I wanted a more direct and critical reflection from Morea about his time in Black Mask, etc and his time in the wilderness and homestead. It's hard to describe, because Morea is critical at times, but not fully the way I was wanting. He talks about a Native practice of never turning around fully, so perhaps this is linked to that, but I wanted more. (Neumann definitely gets into the warts in his book if you're wanting a more critical reflection.)
Towards the end, the 1000 voices collective started pushing back more against some of the things Morea was saying, but I wanted them to engage him more critically at times. Early on there's mostly praise and admiration in response to what Morea's saying. And this can be an effective interviewing tool (and admittedly I would not have gotten as much from Morea if I had debated him, so hats off to 1000 voices). But there are times where Morea is complaining about things like how much sugar people give their children, and he's like 'political people aren't talking about this. they don't want to hear it.' And it's like, dude, you've been out of touch for a while, but there are entire branches of political people who will not shut up about this.
I think a lot of modern anarchists are drawn to Black Mask etc and this book because of their anti-organizationalist approach, where there isn't a hierarchy or formal decision making process in a group. People come up with ideas and desires, and pursue them. If other people want to join them, great. If not, even better. It can be incredibly effective, and generally how I prefer to work.
But as someone who has lived in this milieu on and off for a while, I think there's some flaws with it. In terms of interpersonal dynamics, it's easy for more strong-willed people to get their way and more passive people to just sort of go along for the ride, sometimes just ending up in the imagination or orbit of more active people. And since everything is under the banner of 'we're each autonomous and doing what we want' it can be harder to spot and address power dynamics when they turn bad. I suspect that Morea was one of the driving forces of these groups (and his time in the wilderness and homesteading) and would have liked more awareness and reflection on that.
You can see a similar dynamic play out in the streets during protests and riots, where a small group of people is asserting their will and sometimes influencing events to the point of steering or controlling them, but since it's under that same banner of 'we're each autonomous and doing what we want' it can be hard to actually talk about the power that position holds and the good and the bad in it. Once again, would have liked to hear Morea reflect on that.
And to be fair, these are dynamics it took friends and I a long time to be aware of and reflect on, and I would like anyone in the milieu to reflect on this as much as I want Morea to.
Those critiques aside, this is an excellent set of conversations with an octogenarian anarchist reflecting on their life. For me, that is always a must read.
April 18, 2025
Ben Morea is a real one. Crucial reading for anyone trying to live a free life.
May 6, 2025
we fight or we die that's all there is
November 20, 2025
Really valuable piece of work. Changes your perspective on what being free truly means. Ben Morea is a legend.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews