The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground.

Abstract

The arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Silas Bissell, former heir to the rug-cleaning fortune who was discovered living near Eugene, Oregon, in 1987, drew a line under one of the most spectacular and bizarre episodes in the history of the American New Left, for it marked the official end of the Weatherman. The product of splits within the anti-war movement during the late 1960s, the Weatherman Underground would become synonymous with violent, clandestine resistance to the racism and imperialism in the United States and, for some, a symptom of how the movement went wrong. This comprehensive history of the Weatherman covers the origins, development and ultimate demise of the organization: its emergence from the Students for a Democratic Society; its leadership role in the famous Days of Rage in Chicago during October 1969; its decision to go underground; the various actions it staged - and in some cases bungled - during the 1970s; its role as goad to other left organizations to sustain the struggle against racism and imperiliasm; and, finally, its disintegration, as various members were either captured or surrendered. Drawing on an array of documents, interviews with participants, and a knowledge of the history of the New Left, Jacobs gives an objective assessment of US 1960s radicalism.