Standin' in a Hard Rain: Lessons from the Last Revolution:
The Making of a Revolutionary Life
By Joel Eis
World BEYOND War is proud to be publishing this important, delightful, inciteful, and provocative new memoir!
He became one of the people his parents warned him against! … He was followed and informed on. His phone was tapped. He was shot at, did some time in jail, and was black listed from work. The last time he saw his FBI file, it was as thick as a small city phone book.
Standin’ in a Hard Rain, the Making of a Revolutionary Life is the fast-paced, personal, “boots-on-the-ground,” front line account of major events by a dedicated radical in the 1960’s (and beyond) who found himself at the table with the planners and out in the street, running from the cops. It traces the difficult evolution of a generation trying to stay true to their values in a country in which they felt at odds. It ends with the burning of his draft card at the age of 73.
“Joel Eis’ memoir is an amazing story. Somehow, he happened to be in the right place at the right time in the sixties. It’s the story of a left wing Forrest Gump, only it’s real!” --Will Durst
“I was spellbound by Joel Eis' Standin' in a Hard Rain from the start. Eis tells his story of what it was like to be an anti-war activist in California's Central Valley in the late 60's and early 70's. Eis makes the reader feel like they are there." --Mike Rhodes
Buy the paperback from your local bookstore. Or buy a signed copy or bulk copies at a discount from the author’s own bookstore: Rebound Bookstore in San Rafael, California.
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Chris,
So where are you now?
I was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and only lived in the U.S. from ages 7 to 20. "My Eel Pie Island Dharma" memoir mostly describes my life living in a hippie commune on an island in the Thames in west London, U.K. after I resisted induction. I got 3 draft notices in June 1969 and knew it was time to leave. I eventually returned to Canada on a long shot gamble after living a life of poverty on the streets of Europe. It was a good idea! I've lived in Canada since 1972. I lived in Canada's unofficial capital city, Toronto, before deciding I wanted to live closer to nature, as I'm a poet and haijin (haiku poet). I've lived in a small village, Marmora, for just over 30 years. I was the village librarian here for 3 years and then the village librarian in a nearby village for another decade.
I'm gathering you have the info on where the book an be bought at
https://www.amazon.com/Standin-Hard-Rain-Making-Revolutionary/dp/B0BNW3ZDBD
While the book begins before the Vietnam war and continues after it, that period was very important, as you know.
The mid 1960s to early 1970s were a formative time for the strange bipedal beings on this planet. Even at the time, in my teens and barely into my 20s, I knew I was living through a major historical cultural shift like The Renaissance or The Enlightenment. It sounds like you got to experience the amerikan politikal/cultural changes to the max! After perhaps 2 years of deep commitment to opposing the VN War and opposing the draft, I received 3 draft notices in a week and left. I also experienced surveillance and harassment for my activism - we had a police motorcycle escort when my parents drove me to the airport off the Rickenbacker causeway from Key Biscayne. That was the extent of my activism in amerika. Surviving on the streets then became my challenge, as my parents never discussed or even seemed aware of my politikal beliefs or understood my activism. You were "lucky" to come from a progessive background in a relatively progressive part of the U.S. like California.
What political stuff have you done recently? That's what matters now.
When I returned to Canada I joined The Canadian Liberation Movement. It was basically an anti-amerikan movement opposing U.S. imperialism in Canada. We worked for Canadian versus U.S. unions like Steelworkers, a quota of Canadian versus amerikan profs, who dominated various university departments, etc. . Slowly we became aware of our own internal colonialism with our First Nations, but the internal and external contradictions in the movement, as well as in international Marxist-Leninist movements and countries, led to its breakup in the mid 1970s.
Recently I've been a low key activist supporting our local conservation (nature) area, Callaghan's Rapids. ATV riding maniacs have taken to driving up and down the riverbed, destroying wildlife as well as the general peace and quiet. I've also taken a profile in questioning a proposed local mega project to build a boondoggle energy storage facility on top of the slag heap of the local abandoned mine pit. . . . "think global - act local"
poet as citizen gadfly (on my blog):
http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/2022/
I'm very impressed that you and your wife have opened a used book store : ) Jealous, even!!!
Enjoy your semi-retirement and some peace and solitude - you've earned it!!!
in peaceful solidarity,
Chris/cricket (my haijin name)
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