A riveting firsthand account of Angela Davis's 1970 trial and her ultimate triumph, written by an activist in the student, civil rights, and antiwar movements who was intimately involved in the struggle for her release.
Bettina Aptheker Boeken
At eight years old, Bettina Aptheker watched her family's politics play out in countless living rooms across the country when her father, historian and U.S. Communist Party leader Herbert Aptheker, testified on television in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953. Born into one of the most influential U.S. Communist families whose friends included W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Bettina lived her parents' politics witnessing first-hand one of the most dramatic upheavals in American history. She also lived with a terrible secret: incest at the hands of her famous father and a frightening and lonely life lived inside a home wrought with family tensions.
Focusing on the intersection of sexuality and politics, this book delves into the experiences of gay, lesbian, and non-heterosexual individuals within the U.S. Communist Party from the 1930s to the 1990s. It uncovers the often-hidden narratives of these communities, examining how their identities shaped and were shaped by the political landscape of the time. Through a queer lens, it challenges traditional historical narratives and highlights the complexities of sexuality in a political context.