Levitating the Pentagon and Other Uplifting Stories - by Nancy Kurshan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

PW EDITOR'S PICK!! "Equal parts revealing memoir, valuable historical document, and galvanizing guide to following one's beliefs." --Publishers Weekly

A bold, unflinching memoir from the front lines of American protest by lifelong activist Nancy Kurshan.

In Levitating the Pentagon and Other Uplifting Stories, longtime activist Nancy Kurshan offers a vivid, woman's-eye view of seven decades of radical social change. From the founding of the Yippies and the theatrical feminist resistance of W.I.T.C.H., to solidarity work with political prisoners and indigenous liberation movements, Kurshan's life chronicles the evolution of the U.S. Left--from civil rights to antiwar to feminist, abolitionist, and internationalist struggles.

Kurshan was not just a witness--she was a key player. She marched at the first major Vietnam War protest in D.C., co-organized the 1967 "levitation" of the Pentagon, and ran the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. She was in court for the Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial. She traveled to North Vietnam in 1970, and returned four decades later as an honored guest. This insider's account brings to life a half-century of resistance--from the shadow of McCarthyism to today's fights for justice. Along the way, Kurshan reflects on the internal tensions of the movements she helped shape--especially the fraught intersection between radical politics and emergent feminist consciousness.

More than a memoir, Levitating the Pentagon is a vital historical document and a passionate call to action, grounded in an ethic of humility and truth. As African revolutionary Amilcar Cabral once said, "Tell no lies and claim no easy victories"--a motto Kurshan lives up to in life, and in this captivating memoir.

Includes a foreword by Bernardine Dohrn (Weather Underground), preface by José López, (Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago), and afterword by Pat Thomas (Jerry Rubin/Yippies biographer).

Review Quotes

"[Nancy Kurshan's] decades of anti-imperialist organizing have provided a foundation for understanding of some of the paths that must be taken now. A political life to be celebrated." --Carol Hayes, Against the Current

"Equal parts revealing memoir, valuable historical document, and galvanizing guide to following one's beliefs." --Publishers Weekly, PW Editor's Pick!!

"Kurshan's Levitating the Pentagon is a brilliant endeavor. It's a unique history of the period we call the Sixties . . . and Nancy Kurshan continues to be engaged in radical left politics to this day . . .It seems almost trite to write these final words of this review, but, at the same time, it seems entirely appropriate: Nancy Kurshan, live like her!" --Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch

"This book is a blueprint for today's activists, and a reminder that a life guided by conscience and action is a life well led. Just do it! READ THIS BOOK!" --Clara Bingham, author, The Movement

"Levitating the Pentagon not only makes the past present . . . but it also clarifies the need for people committed to the values that informed the leftism and feminism of that not-too-distant past." --Eve Ottenberg, Counterpunch

"A radical revisits the turbulent 1960s and early '70s. . . . A useful addition to the history of the New Left." --Kirkus Reviews

"With passion, insight, and humor, Nancy's narrative invites us to think critically about the successes and failures of her generation's aspirations for liberation. Her feminist sensibility infuses her understanding of both systemic oppression as well as its reproduction within activist struggles for equality. For those who share her history as well as others for whom this is an introduction into American left political culture, this memoir is an essential and special treat." --Nancy Caro Hollander, author, Uprooted Minds: A Social Psychoanalysis for Precarious Times

"[Nancy Kurshan] belongs in the pantheon of the American left along with Emma Goldman and Mother Jones. She is wrong when she writes, "I am not exceptional." You are exceptional, Nancy; your memoir is also exceptional and outstanding. . . . When I'm asked to recommend a book about the American left over the past 60 or so years, I will suggest readers turn to Levitating the Pentagon." --Jonah Raskin, The Rag Blog

"Levitating the Pentagon is no manifesto. It's an unpretentious first-person account of American radical activism in the second half of the twentieth century. And in my view, we can always use more of that." --Peter Richardson, author, Savage Journey

"When we fight, we win, at least some of the time. Other times, it seems like we might have lost--until we look back and realize that our actions were part of a crescendo that ultimately sparked change. Through an extraordinary combination of humor, reflection and political analysis, Levitating the Pentagon shows us both. Nancy Kurshan details the many David-vs-Goliath type movements battling injustices across six decades. At the same time, she also chronicles the quiet, unsexy, and often unrecognized work of herself and many other women in sustaining those struggles--and pushing towards victory." --Victoria Law, journalist; author, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration

"If the idea of levitating the Pentagon sounds absurd now, it wasn't nearly as insane as the mass slaughter of peasants in Vietnam, the generals inside that haunted building were orchestrating. Absurdity was, and remains, the weapon of choice against madness. Kurshan's provocative and spirited book is a reflection of how she has lived her radical life in the Sixties and ever since: humane, fearless and, even after all these perilous years, still charged with a luminous faith that a more just future is possible." --Jeffrey St. Clair, editor, CounterPunch; author, Born Under a Bad Sky

"Hers is no ordinary voice. It outs the secrets--political and personal--that barred women from leadership roles and kept them confined to scut work and sexism. But Kurshan does so not only with an honest voice and perceptive eye, but with a compassionate heart. For readers still trying to figure out what the "new left" was about, this is THE book to read." --Robin Morgan, Author, Activist

"In her candid, unvarnished and revealing memoir, Nancy Kurshan tells us what it was like to be an idealist of the 60's whose political activism shunned the drift into the mainstream and careerism. Beginning with the hijinks of the Yippies, as the partner of Jerry Rubin, she navigates the trial of the Chicago 7 and then, post Rubin, the movements against the Vietnam War and racism, a personal dawning of feminism, the radical call of the Weather Underground Organization and finally, with her husband, the fight for prison reform. It's a tale of sacrifice and squabbles, fulfillments and failures, and at the end the satisfaction of a lifetime of combating injustice." --John Darnton, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; author, Neanderthal

"Nancy Kurshan's memoir will inspire you to do more and to do it better. To take risks, and also to reflect. To assume responsibility for what is being done in our names. To act up and speak out in these treacherous and urgent times. Buy or borrow or Steal this Book!" --Bernardine Dohrn, Founder, The Children and Family Justice Center, School of Law, Northwestern University

"Nancy Kurshan's memoir is a true gift. . . . Without succumbing to protagonism, Nancy tells us about her activism, her commitment to radical change for the liberation of humanity, to the building of a world where there are no oppressors and no oppressed and where the people themselves are the leaders of their own freedom." --José E. López, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago

About the Author

Nancy Kurshan is a lifelong activist, writer, and organizer whose work spans civil rights, antiwar, feminist, and criminal justice reform movements. A co-founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies) and the feminist guerrilla theater group W.I.T.C.H., she played a central role in organizing major protests of the 1960s, including the 1967 Levitation of the Pentagon and the 1968 Democratic National Convention protest events. Later, she joined the Weather Underground as a public member until its demise. She participated for many years thereafter in the efforts to free political prisoners such as the Puerto Rican political prisoners, Sundiata Acoli, Geronimo Pratt, and many others. She is the author of Out of Control, a foundational text on control unit prisons, and her widely cited essay, "Women and Imprisonment in the United States," has appeared in numerous anthologies. Kurshan remains active in climate justice and Indigenous solidarity work through 1,000 Grandmothers for Future Generations. She lives in Oakland, California.