For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman

by Jonah Raskin, Eric Foner (Foreword)

As cultural revolutionary, media celebrity, Yippie, lost soul, and tragic suicide, Abbie Hoffman embodied the contradictions of his era. In this riveting new biography, Jonah Raskin draws on his own twenty-year relationship with Hoffman; hundreds of interviews with friends, family members, and former comrades; and careful scrutiny of FBI files, court records, and public documents. For the Hell of It is a must-read not only for those interested in this ultimate iconoclast, but also for all who seek a fuller understanding of Abbie Hoffman's America.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jonah Raskin is Chair of Communications at Sonoma State University and produces the website radicaljacklondon.com.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have one outstanding memory of Abbie Hoffman. I was downtown with a friend during the weekday afternoon rush hour near the courthouse. The Conspiracy Trial must have concluded for the day as Abbie and Jerry Rubin, both colorfully dressed, appeared at the corner across the street. Cars were piled up, bumper to bumper, through the intersection. Rather than wait for the light to change, the crosswalk to clear, the two of them clambered over the cars in all four lanes. Still in high school, I was impressed.

Other than that, I saw Hoffman more as a comedian than as a political figure. Three of us had exchanged and read his first book with high hilarity as teens, but otherwise, until the Conspiracy Trial, I didn't take him seriously and even then it was the government that had given him the spotlight. Personally, I prefered the others, two of whom I got to know pretty well, to Abbie and Jerry, both of whom were, while sometimes funny, embarrassing.

This biography, written by one who had known him, displays the contradictions of Hoffman's life: Free! and capitalist drug dealer, manic and depressive, street person and bourgeois, feminist and abuser, etc.--the psychiatric diagnosis explaining, perhaps, a lot.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Abbie Hoffman written by someone who was close to him to witness crucial parts of the story. Like Marty Jezer's American Rebel, For the Hell of It places Hoffman in the context of the rapidly changing mix-Sixties and avoids hagiography. Of the two, this one is probably a bit more reliable (though there's no excuse for saying Eugene McCarthy was from Wisconsin--as someone living in the upper midwest, I subscribe to the belief that the states aren't interchangeable.)

[Matt Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of Abbie Hoffman's life and introduction to the various aspects of the counterculture and their roots in the fifties civil rights movement and various underground and avant-garde arts movements. Hoffman has become an archetype, and it is helpful to read his story although at no point did he not seem like a put on and larger than life. Yet there is something, to me at least, liberating in his commitment to shenanigans. The book good on coverage of detail and broad spectrum events going on at the time, but fails to find that sweet spot of a biography that manages to make the subject feel like a person that you know. I'm thinking of Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson or the very, very long Winchester biography of Winston Churchill.

[Pegeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

1968 , Yippies, media focused protests, manic depression. I lived through these times, but as a grade school kid. Interesting reading. Imagining “ what if Abbie Hoffman had Twitter !” Recommended but I’d like more about the women ( 3 wives) and the co- conspirators. By avoiding delving too much into others the focus stays on Abbie, whic h he would no doubt be glad of. Seems even handed and informative.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raskin does an admirable job sifting through Abbie Hoffman’s life to get past the legend and to the man. Many of the stories, exaggerations and blatant lies were created by Hoffman himself in his effort to dramatize his life and the movements he joined. He recreated himself often and convincingly which makes Raskin’s task that much more impressive.

Regardless of what you think of Hoffman, he had the showmanship, the savvy and the moxie to bring media attention to his causes. Whether he deserved it is another matter.

[Gea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent perspective on the life of Hoffman, his involvement with the yippies, & the history and politics of the 1960's from a not-dry angle.