Holly NearRecensioner

This is a fun and readable book. It reminded me of the 70's & 80's & made me nostalgic for those times. Holly Near tells her life story in a mostly upbeat, positive way although it does include some negative experiences. The reader sees the difficulty of living the politics as she tries to fit her life together with her beliefs. It is silly but so truly representative when she suggests that the separatists who organized a boycott of her shows once she resumed working with/sleeping with men were funded by the FBI -- they may have been but they also were also totally representative of the times. A time when many people passionately believed in their politics. I shook my head at the sex stuff; the idea of politically choosing lesbianism but seeming to focus on sleeping with men.... There are some explanations -- I'm sure it was easier to pick up a man on the street since on most streets that is who a woman would find to sleep with; and maybe her casual affairs with women were either with non-famous women or with women who don't want to be talked about in a book. But as I said she reminds us of what it was like trying to have a personal life that reflects our political beliefs, and how some of the problems played out.