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The Journal of San Diego History
Spring 1984, Volume 30, Number 2
Contents of This Issue
Book Notes
Raymond Starr, Book Reviews Editor
Living My Life: An Autobiography of Emma Goldman. by Emma
Goldman. Reprint Edition. Salt Lake City. Gibbs M. Smith, Inc. 1982.
Introduction. Index. 993 + xvi Pages. $11.95 Paper.
No woman's name in the history of American radicalism is as
well known as Emma Goldman's. A leading figure in radical movements from the
Haymarket Riots of 1887 until the late 1930s, she campaigned all over the
country for many causes which were radical at the time-anarchism, labor
organization, free love, birth control, free speech, women's emancipation, to
mention but a few. What makes all of this pertinent to San Diego is that she
visited the city three times, in 1912, 1913 and 1915. In her recently reprinted
autobiography, Living My Life, Goldman describes those three visits. The
first involved the IWW riots, which she calls "a veritable civil war." On her
second visit, she was subject to vigilantes, incarceration and what amounted to
deportation. According to her account, the third visit was much less stressful.
The autobiography thus contains colorful and interesting material on San Diego
history; the only problem is that a grossly inadequate index makes it hard to
find. Beyond San Diego, the book is a lively account of the life of a strong,
colorful and significant woman, and through her, a half century of radicalism in
the United States.
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