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Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity
“Dan Berger represents an emerging generation of radical activist scholars. A meticulously researched and well-referenced study of the Weather Underground. . . . A gripping story, drawing important lessons for the younger generation of activists.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Outlaw A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–1975 Outlaws of America brings to life the motivations and actions of America’s most famous renegades, who bombed their way into history. Through detailed and original research, Dan Berger offers a nuanced and compelling portrait of the group that risked everything in opposition to war and racism. This explosive, engaging, and timely book uncovers the untold story of the Weather Underground, from its incendiary beginning to its tumultuous ending—never sparing a critical analysis of the group. Especially noteworthy is Berger’s groundbreaking discussion of the infamous 1981 Brinks case, where former Weather Underground members allied with the Black Liberation Army in a failed robbery that resulted in the deaths of three men and the longtime incarceration of several activists. Outlaws of America is culled from dozens of in-depth interviews with former Weather Underground members, as well as with civil rights activists, Black Panthers, Young Lords, and others—many of whom speak about their experiences publicly here for the first time. The book also features an extensive appendix including Weather Underground communiqués, a chronology of actions, a collection of rare photographs, and current biographical sketches of many ex-Weather Underground members. Outlaws of America is published at a time of surging interest in the history of the group, immediately following the release of the Oscar-nominated documentary entitled The Weather Underground , of which Outlaws is the essential companion volume. Dan Berger is a writer, activist, and PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. A longtime anti-racism organizer, he is the co-editor of Letters From Young Activists (Nation Books, 2005).
450 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2005
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September 15, 2022
In his book, Dan Berger traces the history of the Weather Underground, the infamous, ultra radical successor of the Students for a Democratic Society.
I knew right off the bat that I will not be rating his work high. What Berger has written is meant only for readers who sympathize with the Weathermen. Everyone else would be either misled or dissatisfied with this apologist approach to the radical activists of the sixties and seventies. The author's account lacks the objectivity of academic history – he makes his bias obvious.
If we call a spade a spade, the Weather Underground were a group of delusional terrorists. They were narrow-minded individuals who believed that violence is the correct way to draw attention to and solve the social and political issues of America. Although they were posing as fighters of the people, as noble revolutionaries revolting against the brutality, oppression, and discrimination in the country, they had become completely out of touch with reality – a band of petulant, immature youngsters who rebelled against the Establishment for the sake of rebelling. Contrary to their expectations, they were not gaining the public support that they had expected their stunts to bring them, so they found comfort in blaming the System for all their problems. They persisted in seeing all government officials as "pigs" and foolishly rejected the idea that the current political system could improve and find solutions. Instead, they chose to believe that all the efforts of the government were token and that no one but them, the Weathermen, are genuinely committed to battling social evils.
What is even worse is their vision of this battle and what was to come after the victory. Of politics they did not understand much, but were still firmly convinced that the only right path was toward the overthrow of the existing government and the establishment of a socialist regime. The fact that they did not have an idea how to establish a regime and maintain it was just a minor detail that they dismissed as something that would figure itself out after their revolution achieves its main goal – the death of "the pigs". They remind me of Pushkin's famous character Eugene Onegin from the poem of the same name:
Homer, Theocritus, he jeered,
But Adam Smith to read appeared,
And at economy was great;
That is, he could elucidate
How empires store of wealth unfold,
How flourish, why and wherefore less
If the raw product they possess
The medium is required of gold.
Only that Adam Smith has to be substituted with Karl Marx, Che Guevara etc.
The worst part of the Weather Underground's agenda, though, is the means by which they achieved, and planned to continue to achieve, their objectives. They embraced chaos and practiced violence that led to the loss of human lives. There is no scenario in which this can be permissible and excusable. Not only is the end-justifies-the-means argument morally wrong in general, but it does not even apply in this case because the radical student activists did not even have a defined noble objective. All they had was a vague idea of a worldwide revolution. This was evident in their selection of targets for their bombings. If they were determined to bomb, they should have at least bombed military infrastructure, not campuses, banks, or the Pentagon in a desperate attempt to attract attention to themselves and their faulty cause. Instead, they read Che Guevara and short-sightedly tried to apply his tactics for counter-insurgency in the Third World to America, a high-tech superpower.
I wonder what fostered this pro-Weathermen bias in the author. He was not a member of the Weather Underground, so he does not have to defend the radical students' actions to sleep soundly at night. Nevertheless, he is more pro-Weathermen than some of the members of the radical organization, who, having thrown a retrospective look at the events of the protest era, did not avoid criticizing their actions.
But maybe this the reason for Berger's bias. The Weathermen experienced radical activism first hand. They were exposed to both the good and the bad. They lost friends and partners. Many sat through long prison sentences. They know the dark side of the student radicalism. It is easier to become enamored with a romanticized idea of the Weather Underground if you have not been involved in it.
The history of the Weather Underground is a cautionary tale that demonstrates why one should not succumb to radicalism because it only clouds reason, making you unable to distinguish right from wrong and see the circumstances that you are in clearly. It is by no means a story of heroic youth bravely fighting an oppressive system. This depiction fits the SNCC, which broke ties with the SDS, way more. There is no more effective catalyzer of social change than civil disobedience. We should fight people with good, not with evil, so that when we win, what remains will be a strong good, not the stronger of two evils.
OUTLAWS OF AMERICA is a study of the Weather Underground that is well-written and well-researched. However, I disagree with Berger's views about the Weathermen. This book offers a biased treatment of the student radicals. Its analysis should be taken with a pinch of salt.
I knew right off the bat that I will not be rating his work high. What Berger has written is meant only for readers who sympathize with the Weathermen. Everyone else would be either misled or dissatisfied with this apologist approach to the radical activists of the sixties and seventies. The author's account lacks the objectivity of academic history – he makes his bias obvious.
If we call a spade a spade, the Weather Underground were a group of delusional terrorists. They were narrow-minded individuals who believed that violence is the correct way to draw attention to and solve the social and political issues of America. Although they were posing as fighters of the people, as noble revolutionaries revolting against the brutality, oppression, and discrimination in the country, they had become completely out of touch with reality – a band of petulant, immature youngsters who rebelled against the Establishment for the sake of rebelling. Contrary to their expectations, they were not gaining the public support that they had expected their stunts to bring them, so they found comfort in blaming the System for all their problems. They persisted in seeing all government officials as "pigs" and foolishly rejected the idea that the current political system could improve and find solutions. Instead, they chose to believe that all the efforts of the government were token and that no one but them, the Weathermen, are genuinely committed to battling social evils.
What is even worse is their vision of this battle and what was to come after the victory. Of politics they did not understand much, but were still firmly convinced that the only right path was toward the overthrow of the existing government and the establishment of a socialist regime. The fact that they did not have an idea how to establish a regime and maintain it was just a minor detail that they dismissed as something that would figure itself out after their revolution achieves its main goal – the death of "the pigs". They remind me of Pushkin's famous character Eugene Onegin from the poem of the same name:
Homer, Theocritus, he jeered,
But Adam Smith to read appeared,
And at economy was great;
That is, he could elucidate
How empires store of wealth unfold,
How flourish, why and wherefore less
If the raw product they possess
The medium is required of gold.
Only that Adam Smith has to be substituted with Karl Marx, Che Guevara etc.
The worst part of the Weather Underground's agenda, though, is the means by which they achieved, and planned to continue to achieve, their objectives. They embraced chaos and practiced violence that led to the loss of human lives. There is no scenario in which this can be permissible and excusable. Not only is the end-justifies-the-means argument morally wrong in general, but it does not even apply in this case because the radical student activists did not even have a defined noble objective. All they had was a vague idea of a worldwide revolution. This was evident in their selection of targets for their bombings. If they were determined to bomb, they should have at least bombed military infrastructure, not campuses, banks, or the Pentagon in a desperate attempt to attract attention to themselves and their faulty cause. Instead, they read Che Guevara and short-sightedly tried to apply his tactics for counter-insurgency in the Third World to America, a high-tech superpower.
I wonder what fostered this pro-Weathermen bias in the author. He was not a member of the Weather Underground, so he does not have to defend the radical students' actions to sleep soundly at night. Nevertheless, he is more pro-Weathermen than some of the members of the radical organization, who, having thrown a retrospective look at the events of the protest era, did not avoid criticizing their actions.
But maybe this the reason for Berger's bias. The Weathermen experienced radical activism first hand. They were exposed to both the good and the bad. They lost friends and partners. Many sat through long prison sentences. They know the dark side of the student radicalism. It is easier to become enamored with a romanticized idea of the Weather Underground if you have not been involved in it.
The history of the Weather Underground is a cautionary tale that demonstrates why one should not succumb to radicalism because it only clouds reason, making you unable to distinguish right from wrong and see the circumstances that you are in clearly. It is by no means a story of heroic youth bravely fighting an oppressive system. This depiction fits the SNCC, which broke ties with the SDS, way more. There is no more effective catalyzer of social change than civil disobedience. We should fight people with good, not with evil, so that when we win, what remains will be a strong good, not the stronger of two evils.
OUTLAWS OF AMERICA is a study of the Weather Underground that is well-written and well-researched. However, I disagree with Berger's views about the Weathermen. This book offers a biased treatment of the student radicals. Its analysis should be taken with a pinch of salt.
April 20, 2022
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” sang Bob Dylan in “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, his zeitgiest anthem of the late 1960s. As the Vietnam War escalated and politics became more heated, a group of young New Left activists believed they were the ones who knew which way the wind was blowing. Dan Berger’s comprehensive study, Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity takes a critical look at the militant Weather Underground Organization who lifted their name from Bob Dylan. This sympathetic account gives the most detailed history of the group available in print, but unfortunately, the writing is not strong, making this book an uphill battle to read.
Like any good history, the context and origins of the Weather Underground (WUO) is necessary to understand why they formed and their reasoning for doing what they did. Berger does a great job of showing how the WUO started as a group that splintered off the Students For a Democratic Society which dissolved after a bunch of hardline communists infiltrated them and tried to take over. The SDS had been involved in demonstrations and occupations on prestigious college campuses around the country. They were also closely aligned with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Around the time that the factionalism occurred, demonstrations were becoming more violent due to the police. With back channel approval from the FBI and the government, they were given a blank check to handle radicals in any way they wanted. At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the fight of the New Left turned an ominous corner when the police and the National Guard began rioting, beating and killing a horde of non-violent anti-war demonstrators. Dan Berger makes a good point of showing how non-violent groups of radicals like the SDS, SNCC, the Black Panthers, and, later. the Weather Underground turned to violent confrontation after the brutality perpetrated by fascist police at the DNC.
In particular, the Weather Underground emerged as a group to engage in urban guerilla warfare against the police and the state. They were a lot more than a gang of angry kids who wanted to fight in the streets; with some members being labor unionists, middle class males and females, and some upper middle class students enrolled in universities to study history, politics, and law, they cut across class lines and pooled their intellectual resources to become one of the premier groups of radical activists in their day.
The WUO first made themselves known to the wider public during their Days of Rage political action in Chicago. Their original plan was to coordinate an insurrection with the Black Panthers. But BPP leader Fred Hampton decided this was foolish, unnecessarily reckless, and naive so they backed out and planned their own Days of Rage for another date. The WUO gathered a small army of both men and women wearing helmets, carrying flags, and armed with baseball bats, bricks, spraypaint, and molotov cocktails. They vandalized the city and engaged in hand to hand combat with the riot squads who outnumbered them in manpower and also in weaponry and training. After this self-sacrifical bloodletting, the Weather Underground really did go underground. Clandestinely they published a newspaper and a manifesto, and set off a lot of bombs in public places. One bomb was even planted in the Capitol in Washington D.C. but that one failed to go off. The others were more successful but no one outside their group was ever killed because they always called the police and the press before a bombing to make sure the buildings were cleared before the explosions went off. The bombings were a publicity stunt, each one accompanied by a press dispatch afterwards to alert the general public to the injustices of the system. The only time anyone died was when several people who were secretly making an explosive device in a Greenwich Village apartment accidentally set it off.
The other thing the WUO did a lot of was discussing and arguing about what the purpose of the group was. They were in a perpetual identity crisis. They self-identified as a radical anti-imperialist group, but they could never agree on any definite stance, policy, or program. Even worse, they wanted to be the vanguard party of the radical left, but as militant anti-racist white people, they could not come to terms with how that could be possible. They worked in close contact with the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the American Indian Movement, the Young Lord, and the Brown Berets, but how could they lead these groups without being the kind of racist oppressor they were fighting against? The WUO was never able to solve this problem. The only solution for this problem is one of consensus among all those involved and consensus was not to be found. Too many strong leaders do not make a good team. The conferences they held with other radical anti-racist groups always turned into shouting matches, hairsplitting arguments, and petty accusations that degenerated into circular firing squads. The Author, Dan Berger, sufficiently analyzes how the New Left eventually self-destructed, a lot like what we see happening with the politically correct woke activists of today.
Dan Berger, as a writer and political activist of the Left, is entirely sympathetic with the Weather Underground Organization; he never tries to hide his bias to maintain the illusion of objectivity. He is critical and honest about the shortcomings of the WUO. Still, there are some problems with the writing. The paragraphs are dense and sometimes poorly organized. He often has trouble emphasizing the main points so that some chapters read like exhaustive lists of everything the WUO was bickering about. Maybe this is a literary reflection of the lack of direction that the WUO suffered from but the story line also lacks the peaks and troughs that give a historical narrative its interest. The problem may be one of intention; Berger takes more interest in the WUO’s ideology and gives less attention to what they actually did. This is a problem because their actions were more interesting, and more well known, than what they fought about in private. Their rioting and bombings were the most exciting things they did but Berger probably doesn’t want to emphasize that too much. He glosses over some details. The bomb in the Capitol only gets one sentence in the entire book without any description of how they planted it or what happened when it was discovered. The chapter about the end of the WUO also flops along like a car with a flat tire. In the 1980s the remaining members collaborated with the Black Liberation Army to rob a Brink’s truck, a crime that climaxed in a shootout that left one cop dead. It is an exciting enough story on its own, but Berger describes it as if he can’t wait for his writing chore to end. Maybe he unconsciously sabotaged his own descriptiveness because he felt uncomfortable with these uglier aspects of the Weather Underground’s activism. On the flip side, the earlier chapters about the SDS and the schism that led to the WUO’s formation are high quality writing.
For now, Outlaws of America will have to do if you want to read about the Weather Underground, even though it is a tough piece of meat to digest. It contains everything you need to know about the group, contributing further to our understanding of what happened with the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s. It can also serve as a warning to current and future activists who should be wary of making the same self-destructive mistakes that this group of anti-racists made. If you can handle the headache-inducing prose, then the message is clear.
Like any good history, the context and origins of the Weather Underground (WUO) is necessary to understand why they formed and their reasoning for doing what they did. Berger does a great job of showing how the WUO started as a group that splintered off the Students For a Democratic Society which dissolved after a bunch of hardline communists infiltrated them and tried to take over. The SDS had been involved in demonstrations and occupations on prestigious college campuses around the country. They were also closely aligned with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Around the time that the factionalism occurred, demonstrations were becoming more violent due to the police. With back channel approval from the FBI and the government, they were given a blank check to handle radicals in any way they wanted. At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the fight of the New Left turned an ominous corner when the police and the National Guard began rioting, beating and killing a horde of non-violent anti-war demonstrators. Dan Berger makes a good point of showing how non-violent groups of radicals like the SDS, SNCC, the Black Panthers, and, later. the Weather Underground turned to violent confrontation after the brutality perpetrated by fascist police at the DNC.
In particular, the Weather Underground emerged as a group to engage in urban guerilla warfare against the police and the state. They were a lot more than a gang of angry kids who wanted to fight in the streets; with some members being labor unionists, middle class males and females, and some upper middle class students enrolled in universities to study history, politics, and law, they cut across class lines and pooled their intellectual resources to become one of the premier groups of radical activists in their day.
The WUO first made themselves known to the wider public during their Days of Rage political action in Chicago. Their original plan was to coordinate an insurrection with the Black Panthers. But BPP leader Fred Hampton decided this was foolish, unnecessarily reckless, and naive so they backed out and planned their own Days of Rage for another date. The WUO gathered a small army of both men and women wearing helmets, carrying flags, and armed with baseball bats, bricks, spraypaint, and molotov cocktails. They vandalized the city and engaged in hand to hand combat with the riot squads who outnumbered them in manpower and also in weaponry and training. After this self-sacrifical bloodletting, the Weather Underground really did go underground. Clandestinely they published a newspaper and a manifesto, and set off a lot of bombs in public places. One bomb was even planted in the Capitol in Washington D.C. but that one failed to go off. The others were more successful but no one outside their group was ever killed because they always called the police and the press before a bombing to make sure the buildings were cleared before the explosions went off. The bombings were a publicity stunt, each one accompanied by a press dispatch afterwards to alert the general public to the injustices of the system. The only time anyone died was when several people who were secretly making an explosive device in a Greenwich Village apartment accidentally set it off.
The other thing the WUO did a lot of was discussing and arguing about what the purpose of the group was. They were in a perpetual identity crisis. They self-identified as a radical anti-imperialist group, but they could never agree on any definite stance, policy, or program. Even worse, they wanted to be the vanguard party of the radical left, but as militant anti-racist white people, they could not come to terms with how that could be possible. They worked in close contact with the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the American Indian Movement, the Young Lord, and the Brown Berets, but how could they lead these groups without being the kind of racist oppressor they were fighting against? The WUO was never able to solve this problem. The only solution for this problem is one of consensus among all those involved and consensus was not to be found. Too many strong leaders do not make a good team. The conferences they held with other radical anti-racist groups always turned into shouting matches, hairsplitting arguments, and petty accusations that degenerated into circular firing squads. The Author, Dan Berger, sufficiently analyzes how the New Left eventually self-destructed, a lot like what we see happening with the politically correct woke activists of today.
Dan Berger, as a writer and political activist of the Left, is entirely sympathetic with the Weather Underground Organization; he never tries to hide his bias to maintain the illusion of objectivity. He is critical and honest about the shortcomings of the WUO. Still, there are some problems with the writing. The paragraphs are dense and sometimes poorly organized. He often has trouble emphasizing the main points so that some chapters read like exhaustive lists of everything the WUO was bickering about. Maybe this is a literary reflection of the lack of direction that the WUO suffered from but the story line also lacks the peaks and troughs that give a historical narrative its interest. The problem may be one of intention; Berger takes more interest in the WUO’s ideology and gives less attention to what they actually did. This is a problem because their actions were more interesting, and more well known, than what they fought about in private. Their rioting and bombings were the most exciting things they did but Berger probably doesn’t want to emphasize that too much. He glosses over some details. The bomb in the Capitol only gets one sentence in the entire book without any description of how they planted it or what happened when it was discovered. The chapter about the end of the WUO also flops along like a car with a flat tire. In the 1980s the remaining members collaborated with the Black Liberation Army to rob a Brink’s truck, a crime that climaxed in a shootout that left one cop dead. It is an exciting enough story on its own, but Berger describes it as if he can’t wait for his writing chore to end. Maybe he unconsciously sabotaged his own descriptiveness because he felt uncomfortable with these uglier aspects of the Weather Underground’s activism. On the flip side, the earlier chapters about the SDS and the schism that led to the WUO’s formation are high quality writing.
For now, Outlaws of America will have to do if you want to read about the Weather Underground, even though it is a tough piece of meat to digest. It contains everything you need to know about the group, contributing further to our understanding of what happened with the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s. It can also serve as a warning to current and future activists who should be wary of making the same self-destructive mistakes that this group of anti-racists made. If you can handle the headache-inducing prose, then the message is clear.
August 15, 2008
man i thought my obsession with 60s/70s radicalism was a thing of the past like when i was 15 sitting in my bedroom lamenting the fact that i wasn't born in my mothers generation. i still find it inspiring. i like to take that inspiration and find lessons that are useful for today. i think that's the purpose of this book. berger (who's pretty close to me in age) obviously thinks highly of the weather underground, but this book isn't about singing their praises. its a critical look at how white people have attempted to show solidarity in really real ways. i like that he's managed to find a way to open dialog around the weather underground's mistakes without dismissing them.
March 27, 2007
Read half of it then got distracted with other things. I will pick it back up soon as this book, and this volatile time period, is something that needs to be contemplated and learned from to move forward from the new "60's" we are currently in.
February 28, 2022
Re-read, 02/2022: Berger’s study of the Weather Underground Organization is extremely detailed and well-researched, presenting one of the best, most unbiased history of the group, their actions, and their overall effect on radical politics from the Sixties through today. Essential reading if you have even the
remotest interest in WUO.
remotest interest in WUO.
August 21, 2023
Engaging, thorough and readable history. Thought it was going to be a bit of a slog to get through but I ended up reading very quickly, testament I think to the writing style.
July 25, 2012
Far and away the best history of the turbulent political 60s-80s. It is all the more inspiring that the research and interpretation was done by a young person, translating the lessons from that time into possibilities for the present. Political prisoner (since 1981) David Gilbert is highlighted with chapter head quotes and a moving epilogue (in particular describing, from Berger's point of view with emotional poignancy, leaving the visitor's room at the prison where Gilbert was then held (the system continues to move him around, preventing any longer term organizing opportunities for him). The history of SDS, Weatherman, and the Weather Underground Organization (along with organizations emerging from "the split") is thoroughly and thoughtfully presented with observations from scores of activists who participated in the demonstrations, organizing, militant actions, celebrations, and, yes, mistakes of that period. As Occupy ushers in a new period of activism, these are important lessons to be learned.
December 28, 2018
This is not an 'easy reader' history of Weather, it's fairly dense and goes into a lot of detail about both the actions and the theorising. It is however exhaustive and I think that once you've read it you're pretty much informed about the group(s), though keeping up with the acronyms can be challenging as they generally only get explained once and after that it's up to you to keep your SDSs distinct from PFOCs! Much is based on prison interviews the author conducted with David Gilbert who had a fair level of insider knowlege and is frankly honest looking back on the groups mistakes and omissions as much as their successes.
The author clearly has a pro-underground viewpoint and so the book has to be read through this lens; should you be of a pro-establishment persuasion then, while the book will still inform you then you'll probably find yourself scribbling angry notes in the margins a lot :-)
Defitely worth reading if you're interested in the counterculture
The author clearly has a pro-underground viewpoint and so the book has to be read through this lens; should you be of a pro-establishment persuasion then, while the book will still inform you then you'll probably find yourself scribbling angry notes in the margins a lot :-)
Defitely worth reading if you're interested in the counterculture
September 21, 2009
I liked the attention to the context of anti-racist organizing and action. While I was glad to see some reflection on strategic possibilities, failures, and successes, which is entirely lacking in other accounts I've read, such reflection could have been much greater and more critically thorough to be more relevant now. I thought it was well-done as the specific history of one particular group, and an earnest attempt to situate them in the larger context of anti-racist politics and action at the time, although this context is kind of lacking after the section on Prairie Fire. Still, the best historical look at the group that I've read.
December 7, 2007
When I first came across this book I was thinking, "oh great another book about the New Left and the '60s." Although this is well traveled subject matter, Dan Berger's account is completely refreshing, casting the Weather Underground in a new light. One of the important topics he explores is the reason a group of highly privileged individuals were not only willing to give up their privilege, but actively work to destroy racism, white supremacy and U.S. imperalism. Extremely relevant and well researched!
April 10, 2008
I would give this book five stars because it is so amazing.... The most amazing thing about it is how it engages in such useful discussion (through extensive oral history interviews) of mistakes that the movement made collectively and individually, and reasons why those mistakes were made. I learned things from this book that are huge lessons for my organizing work.
The only reason I don't give it five stars is because I got paid to work on it! (I was the copyeditor.) And one of my best friends wrote it.
You should definitely read this book!
The only reason I don't give it five stars is because I got paid to work on it! (I was the copyeditor.) And one of my best friends wrote it.
You should definitely read this book!
October 14, 2007
This is a book worth owning. It raises serious questions about how to effect social change, and the role of "propaganda of the deed." I particularly liked the use of David Gilbert's story to propel the larger story of SDS and the Weather Underground, the focus on the importance of Black liberation, and the reminder that in 2007 there are still political prisoners in U.S. prisons where they have been for over 20 years.
January 7, 2008
Great comprehensive history. Would have liked it better if the author was a little more incisive on the Weather Underground's class analysis, and took them to taks on the "Fight the People" statement that was silly as hell. He doesn't ignore Weather's mistakes, but doesn't fully reckon with them either.
September 17, 2007
This book tells a lot about our country's history. I definitely recommend it. Plus it has a lot of information and stories based on the workings of the SDS (student's for a democratic society)- of which my dear father JIM RASNER was part during his college years. Interesting stuff...
March 23, 2020
Clearly meticulously researched. The book would have been more powerful if more context was included about the state of various social movements in the country. I wanted to hear more about the reaction from the national SDS membership as the WU evolved.
April 10, 2012
Anti-imperialist group, The Weather Underground Organization is the white Black Panther Party but uses dynamite. nice. we live in a corrupt Nation
July 7, 2022
i enjoyed this thoughtful history of the weather underground. this book shines in how it situates the WUO within the broader left movement ecosystem at the time, and how it analyzes its relationships with different groups and tendencies.
he includes the thoughts of tons of former WUO members of course, as well as former Black Liberation Army members, Young Lords members, other parts of the white left (underground and aboveground), feminist movements, and more. he does this both through interviews he conducted and through contemporaneous criticisms and correspondences. this is valuable in helping evaluate the many ways the WUO did and didn't live up to their political goals — building an anti-imperialist base amongst whites, redirecting some of the state's repressive forces onto themselves and away from Black & brown revolutionaries, to take "exemplary action" that raises the level of struggle or 'sparks a prairie fire,' etc. — in different periods and thru different actions.
i wish he went a little bit more in depth on how the group operated internally: between the different cells, between the leadership body and the rank-and-file, how communiques were written, etc.
i learned a lot, particularly about the relationship between aboveground & underground organizing, and between small group actions & mass movements. a great book to take lessons from one of amerika's white, revolutionary, anti-racist lineages, and/or to learn more about the 60s-70s-80s movement environment in general.
he includes the thoughts of tons of former WUO members of course, as well as former Black Liberation Army members, Young Lords members, other parts of the white left (underground and aboveground), feminist movements, and more. he does this both through interviews he conducted and through contemporaneous criticisms and correspondences. this is valuable in helping evaluate the many ways the WUO did and didn't live up to their political goals — building an anti-imperialist base amongst whites, redirecting some of the state's repressive forces onto themselves and away from Black & brown revolutionaries, to take "exemplary action" that raises the level of struggle or 'sparks a prairie fire,' etc. — in different periods and thru different actions.
i wish he went a little bit more in depth on how the group operated internally: between the different cells, between the leadership body and the rank-and-file, how communiques were written, etc.
i learned a lot, particularly about the relationship between aboveground & underground organizing, and between small group actions & mass movements. a great book to take lessons from one of amerika's white, revolutionary, anti-racist lineages, and/or to learn more about the 60s-70s-80s movement environment in general.
September 17, 2021
I have had a somewhat romanticized interest in The Weather Underground since watching part of a documentary on them in college. This book did a lot to shatter my romanticism, particularly regarding sexism and homophobia within the group. Berger does a nice job breaking down the history of the group. He gives accolades where they are due and also points out the less ideal features. Berger also gives a nice background on other activist groups and the state of politics at the time when TWU was active. I definitely have a better understanding of the group and time now, and the final chapter reflecting on legacy is great. Overall, though, I found this a bit sluggish to get through, which is not what I was expecting.
December 1, 2020
This had some interesting things to say, and some good information about the WUO, but the last third of the book was a historical/contextual analysis of the group that was dull, bloated, and lacking in nuance. The authors own biases were blatantly on display through a lot of the book in ways that I found distracting and annoying. An okay starting place for information on the Weather Underground, but not quite the resource I was looking for.
October 25, 2022
Berger's book is a fairly detailed account of their career. Although he doesn't shy from describing their flaws, the book is overall highly sympathetic. Recommended as a resource for anyone interested in one of the most notorious of the militant 60s groups.
March 3, 2025
“The history of the Sixties cannot be told, let alone understood, without unlocking the prison doors.”
June 6, 2009
I will update this later, suffice it to say that I really enjoyed this book. I corresponded with Berger for a bit and found him quite sincere. Although, at the end of reading the book, I realized that, although he wants to be objective, I think he really has fallen a little too much in love with Dan Gilbert. Enough so that he never steps back and really gives us a thorough, systematic critique of Weather.
Because I am lazy, I will paste here the quickie first impression of the book I shared with folks at Doug Henwood's place:
So, Dan Berger's book _Outlaws of America_ is quite good. I wish Postone was this engaging, but the guy just puts me to sleep. I swear, I will try to discipline myself into finishing that book and writing about it.
In the meantime, I've been reading the history of how the Weatherman came to be, which necessitates a lot of discussion about the SDS and the sectarian disputes that broke out. Very interesting.
As I said, I have been blissfully ignorant of understanding the history of such disputes or of encountering adherents of certain factions, so I have no idea how to 'read' them -- to see signs of such adherence when I read someone or interact with them IRL.
Berger does a nice job of illustrating something Carrol has often mentioned: the way "the 60s" felt to people at the time. It just seemed to sneak up on them, this vortex of world events and reaction, where it seems like so much is going on, it's taking years when in reality the events span a few months.
I'm reading Berger's description of the 1969 national convention, with "SDS claiming approximately 100,000 members." 1500-2000 showed up for the convention, with the Maoist faction, the PL (Progressive Labor Party) attempting to influence the convention by packing it with 500 attendees, skewing its representation there. And they came prepared to rumble! They all did, but dayum, PL was _really_ organized.
I bring up this part because it reminded me about recent discussion of Carrol's use of Maoist thought. It's interesting. If PL is indicative of Maoist thought, then Carrol would be a poor example of what they appeared to support: namely, that the action was with the workers; that students should give up their educations and go into the factories to organize; that anti-imperialism, anti-racism, and women's liberation were nothing but bourgeois, divisive distrations.
At the convention, the PL was at war with the dominant RYM faction (Revolutionary YOuth Movement). The factions warred with each other over minor procedural issues such as whether to allow reporters or let a member of the Red Guard in China speak at the convention.
Apparently, the PL had a reputation for being dogmatic quoters of all things Mao, which led to a point at which RYM decided to score some points by mocking them. When the PL opposed the REd Guard talk
"fifty people from the Michigan and Ohio collectives stood up, waving copies of the "little red book," ... and began chanting, "Mao Mao, Mao Tse-Tung, Dare to STruggle, Dare to Win!" ... and "Ho Ho HO Chi Minh, the NLF is Gonna Win!".... The chanting continued until the SDSers collapsed "in riotous self-applause." (p 83)
The next night, June 19, the evening ended in fisticuffs.
June 20, though, the PL lived up to its reputation when they challenged the Panthers, Brown Berets, and Young Lords. The resistance movements, PL argued, were just dividing the movement. The real issue was organizing the working class; the anti-racist, anti-imperialist tendencies of The Panthers, "whom many in SDS viewed as their inspiration," was a form of bourgeois nationalism and had to be snuffed out. Thus, whenever leaders of movements for liberation from racism, colonialism, and imperialism made demands, the PL would try to shut them down. In this case, when The Panthers, Brown Berets, and Young Lords insisted that the PL back off in their opposition, and when they demanded that SDS basically dump the PL faction, the maoist PL "tried to drown them out with cries of "Read Mao!," "Power to the Workers!" ... and "Smash Redbaiting!"
All of which resulted in more fist fights.
RYM walked out at that point, and this was the rift that meant that SDS decisively borke with the white supremacist tendencies and "allied themselves with people of color and national liberation struggles."
By the way, I did not know that there'd been such a thing as the "Port Authority Statement" which mocked the Port Huron Statement, which the SDS thought was too oriented to 'corporate liberalism" -- the man, the establishment.
Because I am lazy, I will paste here the quickie first impression of the book I shared with folks at Doug Henwood's place:
So, Dan Berger's book _Outlaws of America_ is quite good. I wish Postone was this engaging, but the guy just puts me to sleep. I swear, I will try to discipline myself into finishing that book and writing about it.
In the meantime, I've been reading the history of how the Weatherman came to be, which necessitates a lot of discussion about the SDS and the sectarian disputes that broke out. Very interesting.
As I said, I have been blissfully ignorant of understanding the history of such disputes or of encountering adherents of certain factions, so I have no idea how to 'read' them -- to see signs of such adherence when I read someone or interact with them IRL.
Berger does a nice job of illustrating something Carrol has often mentioned: the way "the 60s" felt to people at the time. It just seemed to sneak up on them, this vortex of world events and reaction, where it seems like so much is going on, it's taking years when in reality the events span a few months.
I'm reading Berger's description of the 1969 national convention, with "SDS claiming approximately 100,000 members." 1500-2000 showed up for the convention, with the Maoist faction, the PL (Progressive Labor Party) attempting to influence the convention by packing it with 500 attendees, skewing its representation there. And they came prepared to rumble! They all did, but dayum, PL was _really_ organized.
I bring up this part because it reminded me about recent discussion of Carrol's use of Maoist thought. It's interesting. If PL is indicative of Maoist thought, then Carrol would be a poor example of what they appeared to support: namely, that the action was with the workers; that students should give up their educations and go into the factories to organize; that anti-imperialism, anti-racism, and women's liberation were nothing but bourgeois, divisive distrations.
At the convention, the PL was at war with the dominant RYM faction (Revolutionary YOuth Movement). The factions warred with each other over minor procedural issues such as whether to allow reporters or let a member of the Red Guard in China speak at the convention.
Apparently, the PL had a reputation for being dogmatic quoters of all things Mao, which led to a point at which RYM decided to score some points by mocking them. When the PL opposed the REd Guard talk
"fifty people from the Michigan and Ohio collectives stood up, waving copies of the "little red book," ... and began chanting, "Mao Mao, Mao Tse-Tung, Dare to STruggle, Dare to Win!" ... and "Ho Ho HO Chi Minh, the NLF is Gonna Win!".... The chanting continued until the SDSers collapsed "in riotous self-applause." (p 83)
The next night, June 19, the evening ended in fisticuffs.
June 20, though, the PL lived up to its reputation when they challenged the Panthers, Brown Berets, and Young Lords. The resistance movements, PL argued, were just dividing the movement. The real issue was organizing the working class; the anti-racist, anti-imperialist tendencies of The Panthers, "whom many in SDS viewed as their inspiration," was a form of bourgeois nationalism and had to be snuffed out. Thus, whenever leaders of movements for liberation from racism, colonialism, and imperialism made demands, the PL would try to shut them down. In this case, when The Panthers, Brown Berets, and Young Lords insisted that the PL back off in their opposition, and when they demanded that SDS basically dump the PL faction, the maoist PL "tried to drown them out with cries of "Read Mao!," "Power to the Workers!" ... and "Smash Redbaiting!"
All of which resulted in more fist fights.
RYM walked out at that point, and this was the rift that meant that SDS decisively borke with the white supremacist tendencies and "allied themselves with people of color and national liberation struggles."
By the way, I did not know that there'd been such a thing as the "Port Authority Statement" which mocked the Port Huron Statement, which the SDS thought was too oriented to 'corporate liberalism" -- the man, the establishment.
December 9, 2008
this might be my favorite book about the weather underground (& i have read just about all of them, i am somewhat embarrassed to admit). this one was written by a dude just like two years older than me who got super-interested in prison solidarity work when he was a teenager & started writing to prisoner david gilbert, who is incarcerated because of his role in a brinks armored car robbery in the early 80s during which a guard was shot & killed. gilbert was also involved with the weather underground ten years earlier, because he was drawn to the idea that white people from privileged background should band together to "bring the war home," force the powers-that-be in the united states to have a little taste of the violence they are wreaking in other parts of the world & in inner cities in the united states, & take some of the heat off of black power groups like the black panther party. this is more or less the gist of what the weather underground was attempting to do. berger lays it all out in this very read-able book, from how the organization started, the position paper that inspired it (seriously, some self-styled revolutionaries who go around dumpster diving & breaking windows in SUVs & think they are revolutionaries as a result--or even just the member of "the new SDS"--could stand to be reminded that the weather underground formed out of a POSITION PAPER presented at a conference; how fucking nerdy is that?), the townhouse explosion, the move underground, the action the group did, the days of rage, the magazine they published from underground, etc etc etc. & then he ties it back in with the "politics of solidarity" idea, pointing out that many politicos from this era, including david gilbert but also including a whole lot more black panthers & other black power activists, are still in jail. & that current anti-war actvists, anti-globalization activists, etc, could stand to take a close look at history & not replicate the mistakes of the past, while also engaging in more efforts to dismantle &/or rehabilitate the prison industrial complex. the fact that this book doesn't glamourize the weather underground, & is often critical of them in very insightful ways, & modernizes these lessons for 23-year-olds just now finding out about the group & thinking that it would be totally bad-ass to bomb th pentagon, definitely makes this book stand out from the pack. good job, dan berger!
August 2, 2008
Outlaws of America is an interesting and refreshing look at a somewhat overdone subject, the Weather Underground. The use of interviews with David Gilbert, Bernardine Dohrn and many other former members of WUO, as well as an array of former members from revolutionary groups like the Black Liberation Army and Puerto Rican nationalist groups really brings the subject to life. Dan Berger also emphasizes throughout the book the relevance to today's movements, and points particularly to the prison abolition and global justice movements as places where the legacy of Weather can be seen.
The book delves into the difficult past/present of armed struggle and state repression, and does a good job of keeping criticisms of the group grounded in the bigger picture of state violence. Some of the 70s history is unnecessary for most readers, but there's also a lot of proactive criticism of the lack of feminist and queer analysis or practice within Weather, and even the racist mistakes which happened too often and too dramatically for comfort. These are the most important lessons I drew.
This is not necessarily a complete history, but Dan does a much better job approaching the subject critically and from a radical perspective, than most other authors, who tend to condemn and dismiss Weather as stupid and insignificant. Still, this book takes a view of Weather which is rosier than mine, and for me leaves a good deal of questions lingering.
What did Weather give up when they dumped SDS? Why did they pursue such a short-sighted strategy when they turned to bombs instead of organizing? How did they allow themselves, or even encourage themselves, to become isolated from the mass movement around them, instead of seeing themselves as a part of it? What's a better way for white privileged organizers to be effective anti-racists and stand in solidarity when the state is brutally attacking the movements of people of color?
These are questions that don't necessarily have easy answers, and we can't expect a book to give them to us, but the difficult questions are the ones we need to discuss with a constant vigor.
The book delves into the difficult past/present of armed struggle and state repression, and does a good job of keeping criticisms of the group grounded in the bigger picture of state violence. Some of the 70s history is unnecessary for most readers, but there's also a lot of proactive criticism of the lack of feminist and queer analysis or practice within Weather, and even the racist mistakes which happened too often and too dramatically for comfort. These are the most important lessons I drew.
This is not necessarily a complete history, but Dan does a much better job approaching the subject critically and from a radical perspective, than most other authors, who tend to condemn and dismiss Weather as stupid and insignificant. Still, this book takes a view of Weather which is rosier than mine, and for me leaves a good deal of questions lingering.
What did Weather give up when they dumped SDS? Why did they pursue such a short-sighted strategy when they turned to bombs instead of organizing? How did they allow themselves, or even encourage themselves, to become isolated from the mass movement around them, instead of seeing themselves as a part of it? What's a better way for white privileged organizers to be effective anti-racists and stand in solidarity when the state is brutally attacking the movements of people of color?
These are questions that don't necessarily have easy answers, and we can't expect a book to give them to us, but the difficult questions are the ones we need to discuss with a constant vigor.
January 14, 2008
berger is a little young and comes off as a bit star struck with the famed weather underground. but, it's a fairly good account of the events and includes some analysis of race and gender in the weather underground.
Want to read
July 12, 2007saw the authos speak, bought the book - who has time for all this reading!
January 9, 2008
excellent, critical study of the WUO and PFOC.
January 11, 2008
Vietnam, LBJs Afghanistan, and the people who reminded him.
January 17, 2008
I really enjoyed reading this. Maybe see the movie first
Read
August 21, 2008The Weather Underground ruled.
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