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Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
The son of Weather Underground radicals tells the story of a childhood on the run and a half-century of revolutionary struggle in America.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born underground. His parents were fugitives after a decade fighting the US government; his mother was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. All his life, Dohrn's parents said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in this explosive memoir, he discovers that story wasn't entirely true.
This masterpiece of personal and social history brings us inside an infamous family and their lives underground. Drawing on exclusive interviews, declassified FBI files, and long-hidden letters, photos, and diaries, Dohrn tells a new story of radical resistance, including revelations about the Weathermen's bombing campaign, their secret alliance with the Black Liberation Army, and the dramatic prison break of Assata Shakur.
Reckoning with the emotional damage the Weathermen inflicted on their victims, their children, and themselves, Dohrn's unflinching memoir explores the roots of radicalism and asks how a young person survives when the place they feel safest―with their family―also puts them in danger.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born underground. His parents were fugitives after a decade fighting the US government; his mother was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. All his life, Dohrn's parents said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in this explosive memoir, he discovers that story wasn't entirely true.
This masterpiece of personal and social history brings us inside an infamous family and their lives underground. Drawing on exclusive interviews, declassified FBI files, and long-hidden letters, photos, and diaries, Dohrn tells a new story of radical resistance, including revelations about the Weathermen's bombing campaign, their secret alliance with the Black Liberation Army, and the dramatic prison break of Assata Shakur.
Reckoning with the emotional damage the Weathermen inflicted on their victims, their children, and themselves, Dohrn's unflinching memoir explores the roots of radicalism and asks how a young person survives when the place they feel safest―with their family―also puts them in danger.
Audible Audio
Published May 26, 2026
About the author
Zayd Ayers Dohrn
1 book21 followersAn acclaimed playwright and screenwriter, Zayd Ayers Dohrn is a professor and director of the MFA in Writing for Screen + Stage at Northwestern University. He is creator of the hit narrative podcast Mother Country Radicals and the rock protest musical Revolution(s).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
July 9, 2026
Author Zayd Ayers Dohrn gets to do something so many children around the U.S. would love to do - psychoanalyze his parents in a public way! Granted, Dohrn's parents were part of the radical group the Weather Underground and committed various crimes so his study would be more interesting than most. But still. Who couldn't have fun (and catharsis) with this kind of premise?
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young follows Dohrn as he tells the story of both his parents' radical youth and then their days as a family on the run. Dohrn grew up with parents who taught him how to spot FBI agents, change his own name regularly, and leave everything behind in a split second. Basically, Dohrn got all the worst parts of being on the run while being totally innocent of everything.
This type of narrative is ripe for an author to lionize or villainize his parents while losing sight of the bigger picture. Dohrn masterfully makes this feel like history even when he makes it personal. He asks the hard questions, very often of his parents directly, but also their radical friends. This is not a man who looks at his parents as infallible beings. In fact, he challenges them regularly, asking how they can be parents and still do the things they did. What if he and his brother were left without parents because they were jailed? How healthy is it to make a child grow up on the run? How can you live with yourself when people are killed because of your actions?
However, Dohrn doesn't discount his parents zeal, either. He certainly doesn't think the federal government is the hero. As you would expect, his politics lean more towards his parents' slant just without the need to blow things up and put innocent people in danger. This book also could have turned into a diatribe on present day politics. While Dohrn will make a comment or two here or there, it is not pervasive. He keeps this story about his parents and their radical groups. The book is that much better for it.
Besides the actual content, Dohrn is a masterful writer. I knew I would love this one from the first few pages. His descriptions and anecdotes are descriptive, but never overwrought. When he needs to challenge a viewpoint, he does so in simple language so that no one can misunderstand his point. I will warn readers that this book is not linear. There is some jumping around in time and between people. I know for some readers this is a huge turnoff. However, I think this was the right choice for this story. Dohrn has to juggle so much that it's necessary in my opinion.
Candidly, I intensely disliked the actions of Dohrn's parents. Not for their politics necessarily, but because I can't ever condone the actions of a parent who would willingly put their children in danger (and Dohrn has similar reservations while obviously giving them way more grace than me, for the record). The fact that I could feel so strongly about them while still enjoying the overall narrative is a testament to how well Dohrn threads the needle. This is a writer who effortlessly knows how to serve the story and the reader simultaneously. I can't recommend this one enough.
(This book was provided as a review copy by W.W. Norton.)
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young follows Dohrn as he tells the story of both his parents' radical youth and then their days as a family on the run. Dohrn grew up with parents who taught him how to spot FBI agents, change his own name regularly, and leave everything behind in a split second. Basically, Dohrn got all the worst parts of being on the run while being totally innocent of everything.
This type of narrative is ripe for an author to lionize or villainize his parents while losing sight of the bigger picture. Dohrn masterfully makes this feel like history even when he makes it personal. He asks the hard questions, very often of his parents directly, but also their radical friends. This is not a man who looks at his parents as infallible beings. In fact, he challenges them regularly, asking how they can be parents and still do the things they did. What if he and his brother were left without parents because they were jailed? How healthy is it to make a child grow up on the run? How can you live with yourself when people are killed because of your actions?
However, Dohrn doesn't discount his parents zeal, either. He certainly doesn't think the federal government is the hero. As you would expect, his politics lean more towards his parents' slant just without the need to blow things up and put innocent people in danger. This book also could have turned into a diatribe on present day politics. While Dohrn will make a comment or two here or there, it is not pervasive. He keeps this story about his parents and their radical groups. The book is that much better for it.
Besides the actual content, Dohrn is a masterful writer. I knew I would love this one from the first few pages. His descriptions and anecdotes are descriptive, but never overwrought. When he needs to challenge a viewpoint, he does so in simple language so that no one can misunderstand his point. I will warn readers that this book is not linear. There is some jumping around in time and between people. I know for some readers this is a huge turnoff. However, I think this was the right choice for this story. Dohrn has to juggle so much that it's necessary in my opinion.
Candidly, I intensely disliked the actions of Dohrn's parents. Not for their politics necessarily, but because I can't ever condone the actions of a parent who would willingly put their children in danger (and Dohrn has similar reservations while obviously giving them way more grace than me, for the record). The fact that I could feel so strongly about them while still enjoying the overall narrative is a testament to how well Dohrn threads the needle. This is a writer who effortlessly knows how to serve the story and the reader simultaneously. I can't recommend this one enough.
(This book was provided as a review copy by W.W. Norton.)
May 28, 2026
This book is excellent, a thorough history of radical activists who defined an era of chaos, but told from a vantage point we haven’t heard before. A son, who spent his childhood underground, and can now contextualize his parent’s fight against new rising threats. Vulnerable, earnest, and beautifully written. This book will win many awards.
May 7, 2026
I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young. I was drawn to the author’s story because his parents were people I had heard about my whole life. I grew up outside of Chicago, where a fair amount of events in the book occur. The author is a wonderful writer. His insights and honesty about his parents, who founded the Weather Underground, made this a satisfying read. His parents,Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers, were 60’s radicals who thought that through militant action, organizing and sometimes violence, they could end the Vietnam war and bring about social change and equality. Their choices and their impact on their children, families, fellow radicals, the government and the world at large, were both inspiring and horrifying. They were of their time and forever stayed committed to their revolutionary ideals. As a result of this commitment, the author’s early life in the underground, was a nomadic and unpredictable, with fear of arrest, abandonment and danger. His parents loved him but loyalty to the cause and the movement came first. However, as the author points out, his parents believed that it was worth it because their actions and the movement would lead to a better future for their children and the world. His family’s history gives a personal perspective on an important time in our own American history that is still relevant today. Well written, perceptive and thoughtful, I highly recommend this book.
June 1, 2026
A friend I hadn't heard from in years called me to recommend this book. She said she practically inhaled it. So I. bought it, and it was the same for me. It's my practice to read several books at once, switching off as my mood or the time of day shifts. But, I put my other books on hold after I started this one. It was that compelling. That exciting. That well written. That timely.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn is an accomplished writer telling his own story and that of his parents Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, of the infamous Weatherman Underground. The book briefly recounts the early lives of his parents, but is primarily focused on their radicalization, their time underground, and his own journey with them across the country, hiding from authorities and engaging in acts of sometimes violent opposition to an oppressive government engaged in a wrongful war and systemic racism. It does bring their story forward to the present, which is very satisfying, but not the major focus of the book.
Bill and Bernardine, and Zayd refers to them by their first names rather than mom and dad, were revolutionaries, in solidarity with black revolutionary movements. Their story intersects with Martin Luther King Jr., whose assassination radicalized young people across the country, both black and white, a man of peace sparking violence. In its pages you'll encounter Fred Hampton, Eldridge Cleaver, Tupac Shakur's mom Assata, and a host of other radicals aligned against the state. Dohrn provides an intimate portrait of one of the most significant movements of the twentieth century, interweaving its various threads with consummate skill and never losing the narrative thrust or this reader's interest.
There are heart stopping passages and tender ones. The former are Dohrn's recounting of the close calls his parents and their associates experienced in various actions they undertook and the tragic deaths of Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, and Diana Oughton in a New York townhouse, where they were making a bomb. The latter emerge in his interviews with his parents as he tries to make sense of their choices, his relationship with them, and his own life choices. He never whitewashes who they were and what they did. It's a deeply honest book. And it's also a love story: The love of Bill and Bernardine for each other and their children. Their love of justice and of their fellow revolutionaries. And the love of the author for his parents, despite the flaws he sees in them.
I can't recommend Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young highly enough. It's redolent of the spirit of the Sixties and Seventies, laced with black and white photos and quotes from a range of radicals, writers, philosophers, filmmakers, and poets, and strangely timely, as racism is rampant again, the President has taken us into an unpopular and illegal war, and misogyny is rearing its ugly head. Will a new group of young revolutionaries be born out of our current malaise, determined to right all the wrongs and establish a better, fairer society? Deja vu all over again? I wonder.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn is an accomplished writer telling his own story and that of his parents Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, of the infamous Weatherman Underground. The book briefly recounts the early lives of his parents, but is primarily focused on their radicalization, their time underground, and his own journey with them across the country, hiding from authorities and engaging in acts of sometimes violent opposition to an oppressive government engaged in a wrongful war and systemic racism. It does bring their story forward to the present, which is very satisfying, but not the major focus of the book.
Bill and Bernardine, and Zayd refers to them by their first names rather than mom and dad, were revolutionaries, in solidarity with black revolutionary movements. Their story intersects with Martin Luther King Jr., whose assassination radicalized young people across the country, both black and white, a man of peace sparking violence. In its pages you'll encounter Fred Hampton, Eldridge Cleaver, Tupac Shakur's mom Assata, and a host of other radicals aligned against the state. Dohrn provides an intimate portrait of one of the most significant movements of the twentieth century, interweaving its various threads with consummate skill and never losing the narrative thrust or this reader's interest.
There are heart stopping passages and tender ones. The former are Dohrn's recounting of the close calls his parents and their associates experienced in various actions they undertook and the tragic deaths of Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, and Diana Oughton in a New York townhouse, where they were making a bomb. The latter emerge in his interviews with his parents as he tries to make sense of their choices, his relationship with them, and his own life choices. He never whitewashes who they were and what they did. It's a deeply honest book. And it's also a love story: The love of Bill and Bernardine for each other and their children. Their love of justice and of their fellow revolutionaries. And the love of the author for his parents, despite the flaws he sees in them.
I can't recommend Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young highly enough. It's redolent of the spirit of the Sixties and Seventies, laced with black and white photos and quotes from a range of radicals, writers, philosophers, filmmakers, and poets, and strangely timely, as racism is rampant again, the President has taken us into an unpopular and illegal war, and misogyny is rearing its ugly head. Will a new group of young revolutionaries be born out of our current malaise, determined to right all the wrongs and establish a better, fairer society? Deja vu all over again? I wonder.
May 26, 2026
Excellent well-written history of the Dohrn/Ayers family, particularly during their years living "underground".
Having grown up in the tail end of 60's radicalism, I was aware of the scale of protests but never of the details of the actions of the Weather Underground or their alliances with the Black Panthers and their more radical and violent offshoots.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn has written a fully researched family story of the period, wisely interviewing his parents and other key participants in the era before it was too late. (In fact, sadly, his mother Bernardino began suffering from dementia just as the interviews were concluding.)
The book shows the mix of idealism and extremism that fuelled demonstrations, schisms, bombings, jailbreaks, bank robberies and shootings and led to his families' life underground for nearly a decade, relying on odd jobs, a network of loyal sympathisers, and street smarts to evade arrest. Dohrn objectively and dispassionately presents the political context for his parent's radicalism and brings it up to date with the conduct of the current administration. He asks important questions about the risks his parents took with their children and the pain other families suffered when parents did not evade capture, as his did. And he shows the personal cost of sessions of criticism/self-criticism and the schisms that enforced discipline.
Well worth a read.
Having grown up in the tail end of 60's radicalism, I was aware of the scale of protests but never of the details of the actions of the Weather Underground or their alliances with the Black Panthers and their more radical and violent offshoots.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn has written a fully researched family story of the period, wisely interviewing his parents and other key participants in the era before it was too late. (In fact, sadly, his mother Bernardino began suffering from dementia just as the interviews were concluding.)
The book shows the mix of idealism and extremism that fuelled demonstrations, schisms, bombings, jailbreaks, bank robberies and shootings and led to his families' life underground for nearly a decade, relying on odd jobs, a network of loyal sympathisers, and street smarts to evade arrest. Dohrn objectively and dispassionately presents the political context for his parent's radicalism and brings it up to date with the conduct of the current administration. He asks important questions about the risks his parents took with their children and the pain other families suffered when parents did not evade capture, as his did. And he shows the personal cost of sessions of criticism/self-criticism and the schisms that enforced discipline.
Well worth a read.
June 8, 2026
One of the very best books for anyone who wants to understand the radical 1960s. The son of prominent Weatherpeople Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn (the de facto leader of the faction that broke from SDS in 1969), Ayers Dohrn is uniquely situated to tell the story which combines history and memoir. Born while his parents were living underground, where they remained for roughly a decade, he grew up in a culture that placed the need for white radicals to fully support the African American liberation struggle at the center of its beliefs. His parents never wavered from that commitment, even when it meant placing heavy burdens on the family, including the children when they were too small to really understand.
Ayers Dohrn outlined the public part of the story of the Weathermen in his podcast Mother Country Radicals and DDV&Y doesn't really change the story. It does, however, add a large amount of detail and delves much deeper into the personal dimensions of what went down. He was able to speak with many of the surviving radicals who shared a great deal while refusing to provide any details, in some cases names, that might compromises their former comrades. Both Ayers and Dohrn spoke honestly with him, even when doing so stirred painful memories.
Ayers Dohrn writes in a powerful, sometimes lyrical voice that does full justice to the material. I was particularly moved by the passages in which he pauses to reflect on the "lessons" (never reduced to bumper stickers) concerning the place of violence in activism. Speaking with his father about the relation between individuals and crowds, he writes, "It was. lesson that held both wisdom and contradiction. Our father, after all, had himself been swept up in the energy and momentum of the crowd many times before; as an activist and self-proclaimed revolutionary, he still relies on the crowd, trusts its wisdom and moral authority. A crowd, in his eyes, can be the living embodiment of 'the people,' capable of demanding change, cowing authority, standing up to injustice, even toppling governments. But as a father, Bill also felt the need to warn his sons of its dangers--the inherent volatility of a mass of young people hanging out together, egging one another on, daring one another to do something brave, reckless, or stupid, and potentially losing their individual judgment in the anonymity of the group." Then, distancing himself from his parents willigness to "sacrifice their free will and agency in the name of mass solidarity," he concludes: "I admire this quality in them, but I rarely recognize it in myself. Because I think it may be necessary, at times, for people to stand and be counted in a crowd--to defend democracy or protests for social change. But I think it can also be necessary to stand outside of the crowd, to insist on individual choice and responsibility. After all, mass movements often stifle creativity and threaten the freedom of individuals. Too may revolutions have led to repressive regimes, stained by outbreaks of mass hysteria, groupthink, authoritarianism, violence and the stupidity of the mob."
What makes DDV&Y so effective is that those reflections, which out of context might seem like cliches, are embedded in the lived experiences that make it clear that the choices were real and never simple. For many years I taught freshmen seminars on the Sixties to students, many of whom had present-day activist interests. I wish I'd had this book to add to the syllabus. A classic of a unique kind.
Ayers Dohrn outlined the public part of the story of the Weathermen in his podcast Mother Country Radicals and DDV&Y doesn't really change the story. It does, however, add a large amount of detail and delves much deeper into the personal dimensions of what went down. He was able to speak with many of the surviving radicals who shared a great deal while refusing to provide any details, in some cases names, that might compromises their former comrades. Both Ayers and Dohrn spoke honestly with him, even when doing so stirred painful memories.
Ayers Dohrn writes in a powerful, sometimes lyrical voice that does full justice to the material. I was particularly moved by the passages in which he pauses to reflect on the "lessons" (never reduced to bumper stickers) concerning the place of violence in activism. Speaking with his father about the relation between individuals and crowds, he writes, "It was. lesson that held both wisdom and contradiction. Our father, after all, had himself been swept up in the energy and momentum of the crowd many times before; as an activist and self-proclaimed revolutionary, he still relies on the crowd, trusts its wisdom and moral authority. A crowd, in his eyes, can be the living embodiment of 'the people,' capable of demanding change, cowing authority, standing up to injustice, even toppling governments. But as a father, Bill also felt the need to warn his sons of its dangers--the inherent volatility of a mass of young people hanging out together, egging one another on, daring one another to do something brave, reckless, or stupid, and potentially losing their individual judgment in the anonymity of the group." Then, distancing himself from his parents willigness to "sacrifice their free will and agency in the name of mass solidarity," he concludes: "I admire this quality in them, but I rarely recognize it in myself. Because I think it may be necessary, at times, for people to stand and be counted in a crowd--to defend democracy or protests for social change. But I think it can also be necessary to stand outside of the crowd, to insist on individual choice and responsibility. After all, mass movements often stifle creativity and threaten the freedom of individuals. Too may revolutions have led to repressive regimes, stained by outbreaks of mass hysteria, groupthink, authoritarianism, violence and the stupidity of the mob."
What makes DDV&Y so effective is that those reflections, which out of context might seem like cliches, are embedded in the lived experiences that make it clear that the choices were real and never simple. For many years I taught freshmen seminars on the Sixties to students, many of whom had present-day activist interests. I wish I'd had this book to add to the syllabus. A classic of a unique kind.
May 26, 2026
Chicagoan here who was aware and interested in this book after the profile of Zayd in March New Yorker, and a friend let me know last Wednesday that Zayd would be doing a reading/conversation in my neighborhood the next day. I was all the more intrigued when the review and interview in NYT appeared Thursday. It was a lovely event and of course I bought the book and powered through it in 3 days. It is incredible!
I am 65 so I was a kid when the peak anti war, civil rights activity was happening. I was aware of it partly because my parents were older and there were serious ruptures in their friends relationships with their kids (and of course it was on the news every night). I was 11 when Kent State happened which was 1/2 hour from my hometown and of course always remember the photo of the young woman weeping over her dead friend.
In the early 90s I volunteered on a project Bernardine was running at NorthWestern Children and Family Justice Center that involved interviewing homeless mothers to see whether their children were getting access to their home schools as guaranteed under federal law. We went to a homeless shelter and much to her surprise it was in a CHA public housing complex (not legal). I watched her incredibly empathy with these vulnerable women. That day will always stay with me. She was probably 50 and I was early 30s and she was rocking a mini skirt and had great charisma and seriousness of purpose. A friend of mine taught with Bill Ayers at UIC and around the same time we went to a gathering at their home to celebrate Bill’s new book about the need to reform the juvenile justice system.
At any rate, I remained fascinated with the whole crazy needle they threaded and the contradiction between their actions in Weather Underground and their current life. Over time, I knew their son had become a playwright and that their adopted son Chesa Boudin was elected DA for SF and then recalled, etc etc. And his mom released from prison etc.
I wish I could adequately capture what it so amazing about the book; he is a beautiful writer who is at once describing his own life and sometimes complicated feelings about his childhood) but also an historian- he has looked at pages and pages and pages of his mom’s FBT file, interviewed many many people (including his parents obviously) as he seeks to understand himself.
There is absolutely nothing polemic in this book. I hope it becomes a bestseller and sparks conversations across generations. So so many insights to be had.
Thanks for this Zayd!
I am 65 so I was a kid when the peak anti war, civil rights activity was happening. I was aware of it partly because my parents were older and there were serious ruptures in their friends relationships with their kids (and of course it was on the news every night). I was 11 when Kent State happened which was 1/2 hour from my hometown and of course always remember the photo of the young woman weeping over her dead friend.
In the early 90s I volunteered on a project Bernardine was running at NorthWestern Children and Family Justice Center that involved interviewing homeless mothers to see whether their children were getting access to their home schools as guaranteed under federal law. We went to a homeless shelter and much to her surprise it was in a CHA public housing complex (not legal). I watched her incredibly empathy with these vulnerable women. That day will always stay with me. She was probably 50 and I was early 30s and she was rocking a mini skirt and had great charisma and seriousness of purpose. A friend of mine taught with Bill Ayers at UIC and around the same time we went to a gathering at their home to celebrate Bill’s new book about the need to reform the juvenile justice system.
At any rate, I remained fascinated with the whole crazy needle they threaded and the contradiction between their actions in Weather Underground and their current life. Over time, I knew their son had become a playwright and that their adopted son Chesa Boudin was elected DA for SF and then recalled, etc etc. And his mom released from prison etc.
I wish I could adequately capture what it so amazing about the book; he is a beautiful writer who is at once describing his own life and sometimes complicated feelings about his childhood) but also an historian- he has looked at pages and pages and pages of his mom’s FBT file, interviewed many many people (including his parents obviously) as he seeks to understand himself.
There is absolutely nothing polemic in this book. I hope it becomes a bestseller and sparks conversations across generations. So so many insights to be had.
Thanks for this Zayd!
June 8, 2026
A remarkably engaging memoir/biography of an American era dear to me. An erstwhile member of SDS, I opted for Canada several months after the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, which ended any revolutionary inclinations I had. Zayd Ayers Dohrn does a great job delineating the optimism and passion of the Left, and the self-defeating trajectories taken by some, including his parents. He tells the story with compassion, but with clear eyes. Bernardine and Bill come across as focused and conflicted. The nuance of this narrative is outstanding.
June 20, 2026
A thoroughly engaging page-turner. I have long been fascinated by the 60's counter-culture and political battles. Although I was only child during this era I was very much aware there was something happening here, but what it was wasn't exactly clear. The history of the Weather underground played out in real-time in the newspapers as i grew up and came to realize the scope and magnitude of the movement.
A few years ago I read "Days of Rage" , an excellent accounting of the history of the free speech movement as it morphed into an array of domestic terrorists determined to fight an unjust government by any means necessary.
Nothing, however, comes close to hearing the story told by the literal child of the revolution, born to fugitive parents navigating America's underground.
Z is a great storyteller that even as an adult, with children of his own, manages to recount his story with a childlike mix of questioning innocence and gravitational certainty.
What evolves from this memoir is not just a vital examination of what went right-- and wrong--- in America but a profound discussion of violence in American history and politics.
Ultimately "Dangerous Dirty Violent & Young" is about what it means to be a family, to be true to one's individual beliefs while also serving the greater good, and what is love.
A few years ago I read "Days of Rage" , an excellent accounting of the history of the free speech movement as it morphed into an array of domestic terrorists determined to fight an unjust government by any means necessary.
Nothing, however, comes close to hearing the story told by the literal child of the revolution, born to fugitive parents navigating America's underground.
Z is a great storyteller that even as an adult, with children of his own, manages to recount his story with a childlike mix of questioning innocence and gravitational certainty.
What evolves from this memoir is not just a vital examination of what went right-- and wrong--- in America but a profound discussion of violence in American history and politics.
Ultimately "Dangerous Dirty Violent & Young" is about what it means to be a family, to be true to one's individual beliefs while also serving the greater good, and what is love.
June 20, 2026
John Brown saw the evil of slavery through no mist or haze but in a light of infinite brightness. F. Douglass
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it and then it's gone. J. Arc
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it and then it's gone. J. Arc
Review of advance copy
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
The late sixties and early seventies were a turbulent time in which the Vietnam war raged as protesters marched demanding “No More War” as well as equal rights for blacks and women. The strict rules of decorum of the post war era were being challenged by tenants of “Free Love” and psychedelic drugs. Parents, police and governments attempted to quell this rebellion with water hoses, rubber bullets and curfews. The young were not having it.
Author Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the son of Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, founders and leaders of the Weather Underground Organization during the late 60’s and 70’s. Vehemently opposed to war, racism and injustice, the Weathermen were adamant about overthrowing the United States Government, using whatever means possible, which usually meant violence. As someone who grew up during this time, Dohrn’s account of being born into the Weather Underground and growing up while his mother was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is riveting. He has put faces behind the names that were in the news and details around the destruction wrought by his parents and their friends.
Not only a page turner, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young is also a testament to the actions of the young idealist in the face of injustice. The black and white of what is right and wrong can become gray with age and experience. Especially interesting were the stories of those activists who were able to have meaningful lives long after the demise of the Weathermen albeit in a less violent manner, while many others were not permitted the same leniency. Violence doesn’t work. Injustice still lives.
Highly recommended for the detailed history of the period and as a cautionary tale for those who may be wondering how to combat today’s injustices.
Bookbrowse graciously sent this book to me to review pre-publication.
The late sixties and early seventies were a turbulent time in which the Vietnam war raged as protesters marched demanding “No More War” as well as equal rights for blacks and women. The strict rules of decorum of the post war era were being challenged by tenants of “Free Love” and psychedelic drugs. Parents, police and governments attempted to quell this rebellion with water hoses, rubber bullets and curfews. The young were not having it.
Author Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the son of Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, founders and leaders of the Weather Underground Organization during the late 60’s and 70’s. Vehemently opposed to war, racism and injustice, the Weathermen were adamant about overthrowing the United States Government, using whatever means possible, which usually meant violence. As someone who grew up during this time, Dohrn’s account of being born into the Weather Underground and growing up while his mother was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is riveting. He has put faces behind the names that were in the news and details around the destruction wrought by his parents and their friends.
Not only a page turner, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young is also a testament to the actions of the young idealist in the face of injustice. The black and white of what is right and wrong can become gray with age and experience. Especially interesting were the stories of those activists who were able to have meaningful lives long after the demise of the Weathermen albeit in a less violent manner, while many others were not permitted the same leniency. Violence doesn’t work. Injustice still lives.
Highly recommended for the detailed history of the period and as a cautionary tale for those who may be wondering how to combat today’s injustices.
Bookbrowse graciously sent this book to me to review pre-publication.
June 10, 2026
Excellent audiobook. Resurrected so many memories of growing up in the sixties and seventies in Chicago.
June 22, 2026
Zayd Ayers Dohrn's Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground is one of those books that I admired more than I loved. The subject matter itself is endlessly fascinating: a son attempting to understand the legacy of parents who became some of the most infamous political radicals of the twentieth century. As the child of members of the Weather Underground, Dohrn grew up in the shadow of a story that has already been mythologized, condemned, romanticized, and endlessly debated. His memoir seeks to cut through those competing narratives and answer a deeply personal question: what did all of it mean?
The book succeeds most when it embraces that question. Rather than functioning as a straightforward history of the Weather Underground, this is a memoir about inheritance, memory, and identity. Dohrn explores what it was like to grow up knowing that his parents, particularly his mother, had become symbols within a larger political story. He wrestles with the gap between public perception and private reality, trying to reconcile the loving parents he knew with the revolutionary figures the rest of the world remembers.
Along the way, the book touches on a number of compelling topics. There is the rise of the New Left and the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s. There are discussions of political radicalization, the Vietnam War, racial justice movements, and the growing frustration many young activists felt toward what they saw as the failures of peaceful protest. Dohrn also examines life underground: the secrecy, paranoia, false identities, and constant instability that defined the years his parents spent as fugitives.
Yet the most interesting sections are often the quieter ones. The memoir becomes an exploration of family mythology and the stories children inherit from their parents. Dohrn investigates the ways memory becomes distorted over time, how family legends are constructed, and how difficult it can be to separate truth from narrative when the people involved have spent decades defending their choices. The book is filled with interviews, reflections, and attempts to reconstruct a past that remains elusive even to those who lived it.
I found myself genuinely engaged by Dohrn's search for understanding. There is something deeply human about watching someone try to make sense of a complicated family history. He approaches his parents with curiosity rather than blind admiration, and there are moments where he asks difficult questions and acknowledges the contradictions embedded in their lives. The emotional core of the book feels authentic, and I never doubted the sincerity of his desire to uncover the truth.
At the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
It's difficult to articulate because this is such a personal story, and memoirs are always shaped by the perspective of the person writing them. But there is an underbelly to these events that feels somewhat glossed over. The Weather Underground's history is not merely one of idealism and youthful rebellion. It is also a story of extremism, violence, and the real-world consequences of revolutionary politics. While Dohrn acknowledges these aspects, I often felt the book stopped just short of fully interrogating them.
Part of that may stem from the impossible position he occupies as both historian and son. No matter how objective he tries to be, these are still his parents. There is a sense throughout the memoir that he is carefully navigating the boundary between examination and protection. I don't think he is intentionally dishonest, nor do I think he is writing hagiography. Rather, I came away feeling that certain darker corners of the story remained unexplored because looking too closely might require confronting conclusions he is unwilling—or perhaps unable—to reach.
The result is a memoir that feels emotionally honest but occasionally intellectually restrained. I wanted a deeper reckoning with the damage caused by the movement, a more sustained engagement with the people who suffered as a result of its actions, and a greater willingness to sit with the uglier implications of political violence. Instead, the narrative sometimes redirects back toward understanding and empathy.
That doesn't make the book unsuccessful. In fact, one could argue that this tension is precisely the point. The memoir captures what it feels like to love people whose choices remain difficult to defend. It illustrates how family loyalty complicates historical judgment and how children inherit burdens they never chose. Dohrn's quest to understand the meaning of his family's story is represented thoughtfully and often movingly.
Ultimately, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young is a fascinating memoir that offers valuable insight into a unique chapter of American political history while also serving as an intimate portrait of family and memory. I found the subject matter compelling and appreciated Dohrn's willingness to wrestle with difficult questions. Still, I finished the book feeling as though I had been brought right up to the edge of something darker and more uncomfortable, only for the narrative to pull away. It's a thoughtful and worthwhile read, but one that left me wishing it had dug a little deeper beneath the stories families tell themselves.
The book succeeds most when it embraces that question. Rather than functioning as a straightforward history of the Weather Underground, this is a memoir about inheritance, memory, and identity. Dohrn explores what it was like to grow up knowing that his parents, particularly his mother, had become symbols within a larger political story. He wrestles with the gap between public perception and private reality, trying to reconcile the loving parents he knew with the revolutionary figures the rest of the world remembers.
Along the way, the book touches on a number of compelling topics. There is the rise of the New Left and the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s. There are discussions of political radicalization, the Vietnam War, racial justice movements, and the growing frustration many young activists felt toward what they saw as the failures of peaceful protest. Dohrn also examines life underground: the secrecy, paranoia, false identities, and constant instability that defined the years his parents spent as fugitives.
Yet the most interesting sections are often the quieter ones. The memoir becomes an exploration of family mythology and the stories children inherit from their parents. Dohrn investigates the ways memory becomes distorted over time, how family legends are constructed, and how difficult it can be to separate truth from narrative when the people involved have spent decades defending their choices. The book is filled with interviews, reflections, and attempts to reconstruct a past that remains elusive even to those who lived it.
I found myself genuinely engaged by Dohrn's search for understanding. There is something deeply human about watching someone try to make sense of a complicated family history. He approaches his parents with curiosity rather than blind admiration, and there are moments where he asks difficult questions and acknowledges the contradictions embedded in their lives. The emotional core of the book feels authentic, and I never doubted the sincerity of his desire to uncover the truth.
At the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
It's difficult to articulate because this is such a personal story, and memoirs are always shaped by the perspective of the person writing them. But there is an underbelly to these events that feels somewhat glossed over. The Weather Underground's history is not merely one of idealism and youthful rebellion. It is also a story of extremism, violence, and the real-world consequences of revolutionary politics. While Dohrn acknowledges these aspects, I often felt the book stopped just short of fully interrogating them.
Part of that may stem from the impossible position he occupies as both historian and son. No matter how objective he tries to be, these are still his parents. There is a sense throughout the memoir that he is carefully navigating the boundary between examination and protection. I don't think he is intentionally dishonest, nor do I think he is writing hagiography. Rather, I came away feeling that certain darker corners of the story remained unexplored because looking too closely might require confronting conclusions he is unwilling—or perhaps unable—to reach.
The result is a memoir that feels emotionally honest but occasionally intellectually restrained. I wanted a deeper reckoning with the damage caused by the movement, a more sustained engagement with the people who suffered as a result of its actions, and a greater willingness to sit with the uglier implications of political violence. Instead, the narrative sometimes redirects back toward understanding and empathy.
That doesn't make the book unsuccessful. In fact, one could argue that this tension is precisely the point. The memoir captures what it feels like to love people whose choices remain difficult to defend. It illustrates how family loyalty complicates historical judgment and how children inherit burdens they never chose. Dohrn's quest to understand the meaning of his family's story is represented thoughtfully and often movingly.
Ultimately, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young is a fascinating memoir that offers valuable insight into a unique chapter of American political history while also serving as an intimate portrait of family and memory. I found the subject matter compelling and appreciated Dohrn's willingness to wrestle with difficult questions. Still, I finished the book feeling as though I had been brought right up to the edge of something darker and more uncomfortable, only for the narrative to pull away. It's a thoughtful and worthwhile read, but one that left me wishing it had dug a little deeper beneath the stories families tell themselves.
June 30, 2026
Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers were co-founders and leaders of the Weather Underground (the Weathermen) in the late 60s and early 70s. This group of young people objected to the Viet Nam War and all imperialistic activities of the US government. They decided to show their scorn by bombing government institutions such as the US Capitol, the Pentagon, the Presidio military base, and multiple federal buildings.
Early on they found common cause with the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, stating that police killing of black children in America was as wrong as soldiers killing brown children in Viet Nam. Despite the fact that the bombings were usually at night in empty facilities and security forces were warned in advance, the bombing were illegal and local law enforcement and the FBI took notice. Ms. Dohrn was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
Both revolutionaries, as they saw themselves, successfully eluded authorities for a number of years eventually negotiating their own surrender. Most Underground members were never prosecuted due to state and federal mishandling of evidence, e.g.failure to obtain warrants, illegal searches, seizures, etc.
This book was written by their eldest son, born while his parents were in hiding. It tells the story of his life and that of his parents and their colleagues both in public and while in hiding. In so doing he attempts to understand why his parents became revolutionaries and why this pursuit was so important that they risked the lives of not only themselves but their own children, whom they dearly loved, in their attempt to end what they saw as overwhelming injustice.
It is a deeply revealing and well documented report which leads to much reader introspection.
Early on they found common cause with the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, stating that police killing of black children in America was as wrong as soldiers killing brown children in Viet Nam. Despite the fact that the bombings were usually at night in empty facilities and security forces were warned in advance, the bombing were illegal and local law enforcement and the FBI took notice. Ms. Dohrn was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
Both revolutionaries, as they saw themselves, successfully eluded authorities for a number of years eventually negotiating their own surrender. Most Underground members were never prosecuted due to state and federal mishandling of evidence, e.g.failure to obtain warrants, illegal searches, seizures, etc.
This book was written by their eldest son, born while his parents were in hiding. It tells the story of his life and that of his parents and their colleagues both in public and while in hiding. In so doing he attempts to understand why his parents became revolutionaries and why this pursuit was so important that they risked the lives of not only themselves but their own children, whom they dearly loved, in their attempt to end what they saw as overwhelming injustice.
It is a deeply revealing and well documented report which leads to much reader introspection.
July 1, 2026
About halfway through the book I was thinking 4 stars, I enjoy the subject a lot but the author sounds like Pete Buttigieg, establishment dem son of a Marxist. But then the author really detailed the personal costs he, his brothers, and other "underground kids" paid, and it really made me think. Cry a little even. I also grew up in an overly ideological household, where parents were more committed to their beliefs than the well being of their children - albeit mine was a physically abusive fundamentalist Christian home. It really resonated with me personally, and I think that's the feat of this book: making the political into the personal, in a way the author's parents seemingly failed to.
I think this book provides an intensely personal history of the modern radical left, but without rose colored glasses. Without ideological bias. Without an evangelical tone. This makes it both personal and very objective.
The author focused mainly on giving this objective account, interspersed with personal experiences and feelings, but I also really liked on of the few serious questions he raised: Was it even a time of real revolution? Was it a time that called for this kind of seemingly revolutionary behavior?
I haven't stopped turning that one over in my mind.
I think this book provides an intensely personal history of the modern radical left, but without rose colored glasses. Without ideological bias. Without an evangelical tone. This makes it both personal and very objective.
The author focused mainly on giving this objective account, interspersed with personal experiences and feelings, but I also really liked on of the few serious questions he raised: Was it even a time of real revolution? Was it a time that called for this kind of seemingly revolutionary behavior?
I haven't stopped turning that one over in my mind.
July 11, 2026
Zayd Ayers Dohrn is an amazing writer and this book is riveting to read. It is both a social history of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States as well as an excellent examination and reflection of a family who lived underground for many years and how their violent tendencies eventually transformed into social good. As a baby boomer who followed the news stories of the SDS and the Weather Underground, I found this book fascinating, but I also think it can speak to any American generation. Highly Recommended.
July 12, 2026
Wow. Remembering SDS and The Weather Underground from (mainly) college, this was fascinating. Moral dilemmas of violent tactics, civil disobedience _ this shaped our young lives in a tormented time in the US
Read
July 8, 2026I want to TALK about this book—let me know if you’ve read it. I’m ready for a book club discussion.
June 3, 2026
This is just a great book. Wise. Reflective. It has a somewhat flabby middle, but the first third/half is A+, and the conclusion raises a lot of good questions for thinking. I read it 'cos my friend Michael gave it 5 stars, and that's a good kick in the ass to read something.
The books is essentially about families and generations. In that sense it is "bourgeois" and would have been rejected by the late 60s/early 70s versions of the protagonists, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.
For me, there is a total mismatch between my family's generations and what is described here, so I was constantly computing what it could possibly means that the author was born in the late 70s. The parents here were born in the mid/late 40s, and then kids in the late 70s. This is completely out of sync with the way I think about the history of the USA since, say, 1950. These families are the well-known story of the 60s, 70s, and 80s: And, wow, do I feel misplaced.
Anyway, strongly recommended.
The books is essentially about families and generations. In that sense it is "bourgeois" and would have been rejected by the late 60s/early 70s versions of the protagonists, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.
For me, there is a total mismatch between my family's generations and what is described here, so I was constantly computing what it could possibly means that the author was born in the late 70s. The parents here were born in the mid/late 40s, and then kids in the late 70s. This is completely out of sync with the way I think about the history of the USA since, say, 1950. These families are the well-known story of the 60s, 70s, and 80s: And, wow, do I feel misplaced.
Anyway, strongly recommended.
June 24, 2026
Learned a lot about the Weather Underground and radical extremism in the late 60s and 70s US. Lots of Black Panther/Black Liberation crossover. Super interesting, lots of the flip side of its history with what FBI/government counterintelligence was doing. Being raised by parents labeled terrorists by the system, I can't really imagine it. Zayd Ayers Dohrn really did an open-hearted, comprehensive job of telling his family's story and researching this book and it made for some pretty incredible storytelling. Worth your time if you're into leftist politics, radicalism, countercultural movements, police stations and symbolic municipal buildings being bombed, and movements that eat themselves due to internal squabbles, purity tests, and J. Edgar Hoover's goons' insane spying breaking things apart.
July 1, 2026
So few people recall the scary days of the last 60s/ early 70s in response to the Viet Nam war and the civil rights movement.
Revolutionaries rose into prominence during this time, Students for a Democratic Society (called SDS) and Black Panthers to name a couple. These groups committed hundreds of violent acts to bring attention to these dire social issues, adding to the atmosphere of unsettling hippie ideology and scalding rage among many young people.
Into this maelstrom steps Bernardine Dohrn, a brilliant mind focused on justice literally for all. She becomes a fugitive from the FBI.
This is a memoir by Dohrn’s son, a skilled and empathetic writer who captivated me throughout his book. It reads like a novel and is impossibly hard to put down.
Revolutionaries rose into prominence during this time, Students for a Democratic Society (called SDS) and Black Panthers to name a couple. These groups committed hundreds of violent acts to bring attention to these dire social issues, adding to the atmosphere of unsettling hippie ideology and scalding rage among many young people.
Into this maelstrom steps Bernardine Dohrn, a brilliant mind focused on justice literally for all. She becomes a fugitive from the FBI.
This is a memoir by Dohrn’s son, a skilled and empathetic writer who captivated me throughout his book. It reads like a novel and is impossibly hard to put down.
June 4, 2026
What a superb book. Compelling story + great writing = a book worth anyone’s time (and money). Full disclosure: I know both parents and have had the pleasure of working with his mom. So I “ may” be a tad biased in how interesting their stories are….but I don’t think so.
While the book is perhaps too complex to describe on a few sentences, I’ll summarize it as well as I can:
This is a biography of the author’s parents: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorn, using the framing of the author’s own autobiography. Bill and Bernardine were standard issue white middle class kids growing up in the US in the 1950’s. But by the mid-60’s they were outlaws and revolutionaries, and Bernardine spent almost a decade on the FBI’s most wanted list.
The book details how this transformation happened. One can’t tell their story without telling the story of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60’s; the story of the Black Panthers and the SDS, and ultimately the revolutionary violence of the Weatherman/Weather Underground. Bill and Bernadine were founding members of the Weathermen. The group planted bombs, blew up government buildings, and generally declared war on the US government. As a result, they were forced underground, and lived on the run for a decade .
During that decade, Zayd (the author of this book) was born. His first formative years were spent cross-crossing the country, under different names, on different cities, always on the look out for police, the FBI, etc. inevitably, this life impacted Zayd, and much of the book examines the impact his parents’ choices had on him.
Despite my knowing the family, and having read some of Bill’s own books, I learned a lot about their history, and the history of the movement.
Highly recommended for anyone who has even. Passing interest in how resistance develops, and the sacrifices (and rewards) choosing to devote oneself to resistance entails.
While the book is perhaps too complex to describe on a few sentences, I’ll summarize it as well as I can:
This is a biography of the author’s parents: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorn, using the framing of the author’s own autobiography. Bill and Bernardine were standard issue white middle class kids growing up in the US in the 1950’s. But by the mid-60’s they were outlaws and revolutionaries, and Bernardine spent almost a decade on the FBI’s most wanted list.
The book details how this transformation happened. One can’t tell their story without telling the story of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60’s; the story of the Black Panthers and the SDS, and ultimately the revolutionary violence of the Weatherman/Weather Underground. Bill and Bernadine were founding members of the Weathermen. The group planted bombs, blew up government buildings, and generally declared war on the US government. As a result, they were forced underground, and lived on the run for a decade .
During that decade, Zayd (the author of this book) was born. His first formative years were spent cross-crossing the country, under different names, on different cities, always on the look out for police, the FBI, etc. inevitably, this life impacted Zayd, and much of the book examines the impact his parents’ choices had on him.
Despite my knowing the family, and having read some of Bill’s own books, I learned a lot about their history, and the history of the movement.
Highly recommended for anyone who has even. Passing interest in how resistance develops, and the sacrifices (and rewards) choosing to devote oneself to resistance entails.
June 22, 2026
This book was written by a son whose parents were members of the Weathermen Underground in the 1960's and early 1970's . It is fascinating to read the author's memories of growing up as the child whose parents were radicals who wanted to overthrow the government and were wanted fugitives and eventually spent time in prison.
Upon their release, the parents became accomplished professionals.
I vaguely remember when these people were bombing buildings and robbing banks. An interesting history well written.
Upon their release, the parents became accomplished professionals.
I vaguely remember when these people were bombing buildings and robbing banks. An interesting history well written.
June 30, 2026
They don’t make leftists like these anymore!!!
But in all seriousness this was such a fascinating and moving read. NPR thank you for this book recc.
Told from multiple perspectives, and we see Zayd go from naive child to adult with kids of his own reminiscing of his parents’ lives. What does it mean to be a fugitive? What does legacy mean and what do we do with our parents legacies? Does having kids mean you can no longer be a revolutionary? Or does being a revolutionary mean you cannot have kids?
But in all seriousness this was such a fascinating and moving read. NPR thank you for this book recc.
Told from multiple perspectives, and we see Zayd go from naive child to adult with kids of his own reminiscing of his parents’ lives. What does it mean to be a fugitive? What does legacy mean and what do we do with our parents legacies? Does having kids mean you can no longer be a revolutionary? Or does being a revolutionary mean you cannot have kids?
May 31, 2026
A deep remarkable memoir
Although this is a memoir about a family whose parents were ostensibly terrorists it asks, and answers, deep questions about history, families, and what it is like to live through history. Living through history, as we are discovering now, is much harder than reading, or writing about it. That Zayd can tell this tale with such honesty, integrity,insight and love makes me want to gift this book to freinds.
Although this is a memoir about a family whose parents were ostensibly terrorists it asks, and answers, deep questions about history, families, and what it is like to live through history. Living through history, as we are discovering now, is much harder than reading, or writing about it. That Zayd can tell this tale with such honesty, integrity,insight and love makes me want to gift this book to freinds.
May 30, 2026
compelling
I missed the revolution by about 8 years and this book made me think hard about how I would have handled it. It is a compelling read, beautifully written and insightful.
I missed the revolution by about 8 years and this book made me think hard about how I would have handled it. It is a compelling read, beautifully written and insightful.
May 31, 2026
This is an excellent book, with thoughtful prose and very personal insight into the sacrifices and gains of rebellion and changing entrenched systems. So glad I read it and highly recommend Defiance about one person’s engagement with the Arab Spring as a follow up.
June 2, 2026
Very interesting read. I look forward to sharing and discussing with my book club group and others.
June 6, 2026
Read by the author. Well written, well narrated.
June 6, 2026
Fascinating history, but also compusively readable.
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