Jenny Thompson

Mark Rudd's memoir of his days with the Weathermen Underground, _Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen_ (2009),offers one of the most fascinating and trenchant studies of a grass roots anti-war operation, initially sprung to life with the student protest movement in the 1960s.

Rudd's book is not what one might expect from an erstwhile fugitive. Unlike other prominent former members of the WU, Rudd is willing to examine his experience in detail and honesty. What emerges is a shocking and informative journey through the days of rage in the US, when students shut down universities (such as Columbia, led, in part, by Rudd), the anti-war movement divided, (and partially imploded over the question of using violence), and the "war" in America was waged from underground by members of groups such as the WU.

Rudd paints a complicated picture of these events as one who witnessed them (and heavily influenced them) from the inside. The petty arguments, the sexism, the fears, and the fragility with which the WU operated are all exposed here to an extensive degree. While Rudd is willing to critique the WU and his role within it, he has done something so vital and valuable for those involved in the anti-war movement today: he dissects the past and applies the lessons learned to the present.

Rudd does not ask for forgiveness for many of the things the WU did, but he does still hold fast to the ideals he had as a young man--peace, justice, these are not just words to Rudd. They were ideals he was willing to fight for back in the 1960s, and although the WU's decision to jettison non-violence as a strategy to affect change ultimately hurt the anti-war movement far more than anything, Rudd offers a thoughtful discussion on the role of the individual in a society at war.