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The Red Squad
E.M. Broner brings us a wonderfully comic and moving novel about the interwoven lives of a group of restless Midwestern grad students in the 1960s. Forty years later, gray-haired and spread around the country, they learn that they were under surveillance during their activist days.
At the center is Anka, a lively professor at an Ohio university, who receives an unsolicited Freedom of Information file charting her younger life as part of an eccentric crew who came together around politics and passion. She’s plunged into suspicion (who sent the file and why?), but also into rollicking memories of her compatriots in the “bullpen” of graduate school back in those Kevin, the sweet young priest in the process of formally leaving the church, who was her protector and secret crush; “The Farmer,” the only married man among them; the gay poet named Noble and his intimate, Ron, the black professor of Victorian studies; the irrepressible Bernstein, who yearned to start again in the promised land of Israel. One of them becomes a spy, the other a fugitive.
Filled with the rich details of the personal and political actions that solidified the group for a time and then splintered it into the l970s, the plot is animated by Anka’s longings for love and justice, and by the unfolding mystery of the Bullpenner who went underground. When their long lost comrade resurfaces, his plight brings all the pen-mates and some of their once prized students together at the glorious finale of this picaresque adventure.
Wise, funny, written in quicksilver prose, The Red Squad reminds us how relevant the lessons of the past still are today, and brings us a timeless message of community and hope.
At the center is Anka, a lively professor at an Ohio university, who receives an unsolicited Freedom of Information file charting her younger life as part of an eccentric crew who came together around politics and passion. She’s plunged into suspicion (who sent the file and why?), but also into rollicking memories of her compatriots in the “bullpen” of graduate school back in those Kevin, the sweet young priest in the process of formally leaving the church, who was her protector and secret crush; “The Farmer,” the only married man among them; the gay poet named Noble and his intimate, Ron, the black professor of Victorian studies; the irrepressible Bernstein, who yearned to start again in the promised land of Israel. One of them becomes a spy, the other a fugitive.
Filled with the rich details of the personal and political actions that solidified the group for a time and then splintered it into the l970s, the plot is animated by Anka’s longings for love and justice, and by the unfolding mystery of the Bullpenner who went underground. When their long lost comrade resurfaces, his plight brings all the pen-mates and some of their once prized students together at the glorious finale of this picaresque adventure.
Wise, funny, written in quicksilver prose, The Red Squad reminds us how relevant the lessons of the past still are today, and brings us a timeless message of community and hope.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2009
About the author
E.M. Broner
12 books3 followersEsther M. Broner, best known as E.M. Broner, Ph.D., Professor Emerita was a Jewish American feminist author.
Broner was the author of ten books, including The Women's Haggadah; Weave of Women; The Telling: The Story of a Group of Jewish Women Who Journey to Spirituality through Community and Ceremony; and Mornings and Mourning: A Kaddish Journal. Broner had also written radio scripts for National Public Radio and plays. Her musical, “Higginson: An American Life,” premiered June 17, 2005, by the Michigan Opera Theatre (Broner, book & lyrics; Mort Zieve, music). Broner led the original Women's Seder for 30 years and was proclaimed a Wonder Woman by the Wonder Woman Foundation for her work in feminist Jewish ritual. She was married to the printmaker/painter Robert Broner, and they have four grown children.
Broner was the author of ten books, including The Women's Haggadah; Weave of Women; The Telling: The Story of a Group of Jewish Women Who Journey to Spirituality through Community and Ceremony; and Mornings and Mourning: A Kaddish Journal. Broner had also written radio scripts for National Public Radio and plays. Her musical, “Higginson: An American Life,” premiered June 17, 2005, by the Michigan Opera Theatre (Broner, book & lyrics; Mort Zieve, music). Broner led the original Women's Seder for 30 years and was proclaimed a Wonder Woman by the Wonder Woman Foundation for her work in feminist Jewish ritual. She was married to the printmaker/painter Robert Broner, and they have four grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2010
A coming of age saga from the '60s.A semi-autobiographical novel written as a reminiscence juming from the past to the future and back again rapidly but with clear delineation.Best enjoyed by those left leaning radical types who lived and matured during those turbulent times.A knowledgable distrust of the federal government runs throughout.
January 19, 2010
A very entertaining and interesting book, told in flashback format. My only complaint is that the ending seemed rushed, and was a little confusing (I had to reread a few areas to make sure I understood exactly what was happening).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews