David Gilbert's
Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond
“This story is from a true freedom fighter, a warrior against U.S. imperialism and for peace and justice.”
- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–75
"David Gilbert is a player. Like the Panthers of old, he and his comrades in Weather heard the symphony of revolutionary thought and action from around the world, and instead of simply applauding or critiquing, climbed down out of the balcony, jumped up on the stage of history, and banged out a tune."
- Boots Riley, The Coup
A nice Jewish boy from suburban Boston - hell, an Eagle Scout! - David Gilbert arrived at Columbia University just in time for the explosive Sixties. From the early anti-Vietnam War protests to the founding of SDS, from the Columbia Strike to the tragedy of the Townhouse, Gilbert was on the scene: as organizer, theoretician, and above all, activist. He was among the first militants who went underground to build the clandestine resistance to war and racism known as “Weatherman.” And he was among the last to emerge, in captivity, after the disaster of the 1981 Brinks robbery, an attempted expropriation that resulted in four deaths and long prison terms. In this extraordinary memoir, written from the maximum-security prison where he has lived for almost thirty years, David Gilbert tells the intensely personal story of his own Long March from liberal to radical to revolutionary.
Today a beloved and admired mentor to a new generation of activists, he assesses with rare humor, with an understanding stripped of illusions, and with uncommon candor the errors and advances, terrors and triumphs of the Sixties and beyond. It’s a battle that was far from won, but is still not lost: the struggle to build a new world, and the love that drives that effort. A cautionary tale and a how-to as well, Love and Struggle is a book as candid, as uncompromising, and as humane as its author.
Events for Love and Struggle
Sunday, April 29th
Portland, Oregon
Where: Reflections Coffee and Books, 446 NE Killingsworth
When: 3pm
Sponsored by Connect the Dots and Oregon Jericho
Donation
Monday, April 30th
Eugene, Oregon
Where: Ben Linder Room University of Oregon
When:
7 pm
Free
Sponsored by the Survival Center
Tuesday, May 1st
Seattle, WA
Where: Broadway Performance Hall 1625 Broadway (Seattle Central Community College)
When: 11 am
Free
Sponsored by SCCC Student Leadership
Wednesday, May 2nd
Olympia, WA
Where: SEM II B1105 Evergreen State College
When:
1 pm
Free
Sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society olympiasds@riseup.net
Event page
Wednesday, May 2nd
Olympia, WA
Where:
Free Orca Books 509 E. 4th Ave
When:
7pm
Event page
Thursday, May 3rd
Bellingham, WA
Where:
Bellingham Alternative Library 717 N Forest St
When: 7 pm
Free
Event page
Sunday, May 6th
Tacoma, WA
Where:
REACH Center 714 S. 27th Street
When:
12 pm
Free
Sponsored by Tacoma Conversation Project
Get in touch to organize an event in your area - or if you're already organizing a launch which you don't see listed here, email: FODGWest@gmail.com or info@kersplebedeb.com
Love and Struggle Videos
The official book trailer!
Naomi Jaffe introduces the event "Weather Underground Meets Occupy Wall Street" on March 3, 2012 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY.
Victorio Reyes reads a selection from "Love and Struggle" during the event "Weather Underground Meets Occupy Wall Street" on March 3, 2012 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY.
Panel at Brecht Forum discussing Love and Struggle; Kazembe Balagoon (standing; facilitator), Kenyon Farrow, Monifa Bandele, Terry Bisson, Alan Grieg, Aazam Otero, Matt Meyer.
Reviews of Love and Struggle
Other Books by David Gilbert
In June 2004, David's book No Surrender was published
by Abraham Guillen Press. This is an important
book for radicals to read and discuss. The following are reviews of No
Surrender available online on this site:
AIDS conspiracy Theories:
Tracking the Real Genocide,
by David Gilbert with commentary. An important investigation into the racist and reactionary underpinnings of many conspiracy theories about AIDS. Reviewed in:
