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Swords in the Hands of Children: Reflections of an American Revolutionary
This crisp, contemplative memoir of an American radical arrives at a moment of surging activism and rage. It is essential reading for progressives struggling with how to act and survive in the Age of Trump. Against the vividly evoked chaos and conflicts of the Sixties, Jonathan Lerner probes the impulses that led a small group of educated, privileged young Americans to turn to violence as a means of political change. Beyond that, he tells the true story of an intellectually adventurous but insecure gay man immersed in the macho, misogynistic and physically confrontational environment of the Weathermen.
Inventing himself first as “minister of propaganda” for a movement — and along the way participating in the Venceremos Brigade in Cuba and observing the Native American uprising at Wounded Knee — and then reinventing himself as high-rolling gay hustler, Lerner recounts a wild and utterly American journey from idealism to destruction and beyond. Other Weatherpeople have written memoirs; none has explored the painful history of the consequential group with such penetrating honesty.
Inventing himself first as “minister of propaganda” for a movement — and along the way participating in the Venceremos Brigade in Cuba and observing the Native American uprising at Wounded Knee — and then reinventing himself as high-rolling gay hustler, Lerner recounts a wild and utterly American journey from idealism to destruction and beyond. Other Weatherpeople have written memoirs; none has explored the painful history of the consequential group with such penetrating honesty.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionMemoir
228 pages, Paperback
Published September 14, 2017
About the author
Jonathan Lerner
6 books18 followersWhen Jonathan Lerner's first novel Caught in a Still Place was published, Booklist said, “Lerner breaks the mold. Candid, understated, self-effacing, funny, as stripped down as the emptied world."
Caught in a Still Place describes a dystopian future when a group of people on an obscure Florida island survive a mysterious plague.
Lerner's other books are the novel Alex Underground and the memoir Swords in the Hands of Children. Both deal with his experiences in the radical movement of the Sixties, and the challenges of doing so as a young gay man. His novel Lily Narcissus is about an American expat family in Asia in the Vietnam War era.
He is also an award-winning journalist focusing on travel, architecture and environment. His work has run in The New York Times, Metropolis, Travel+Leisure, Men's Journal, Modern Maturity and elsewhere, and he is a contributing editor at Landscape Architecture Magazine.
He lives with his husband in New York's Hudson Valley.
Caught in a Still Place describes a dystopian future when a group of people on an obscure Florida island survive a mysterious plague.
Lerner's other books are the novel Alex Underground and the memoir Swords in the Hands of Children. Both deal with his experiences in the radical movement of the Sixties, and the challenges of doing so as a young gay man. His novel Lily Narcissus is about an American expat family in Asia in the Vietnam War era.
He is also an award-winning journalist focusing on travel, architecture and environment. His work has run in The New York Times, Metropolis, Travel+Leisure, Men's Journal, Modern Maturity and elsewhere, and he is a contributing editor at Landscape Architecture Magazine.
He lives with his husband in New York's Hudson Valley.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 18, 2022
In his memoir, former Weatherman Jonathan "Johnny" Lerner tells his story of activism in the sixties and seventies. What distinguishes his work from those of other student radicals is that he has really come to understand that what the Weather Underground and other militant organizations did was wrong, and he does not make any attempts to excuse his actions and those of his comrades. Unlike many of his fellow Weathermen, he does not mince his words, calling their organization "a tiny, secretive, intellectually stultifying, corrupt, and violent revolutionary group."
Lerner's journey of radicalism began in 1967, when he dropped out of college and joined Students for a Democratic Society, "a big, chaotic but fecund, broadly leftist but relatively welcoming and sometimes even effective mass organization." Then, after SDS disbanded, he joined the Weather Underground, which emerged from its debris, and continued to be involved in the new organization's activities until 1976, when he escaped the haze that the radical turmoil of the decade had thrown him into.
The author does not avoid exposing the dark side of the student radicals and the ideas that they fought for. For instance, the popular call to "smash monogamy" was excused as a way to free girlfriends from the domination of their boyfriends, but, according to the author, it also had the effect of freeing previously attached women to be sexually available to the leaders of the Weather Underground, or to any other guy who felt empowered to coerce them. He underscores that at some point Bernadine Dohrn was the only woman on the Weather Bureau because no other woman could last long in that environment.
Regarding the Days of Rage, which were a spectacular failure, the author deserves praise for calling a spade a spade. He depicts how during the preparation for the Days the Weathermen transformed themselves into "an infantry of swaggering kamikazes" that expected to organize tens of thousands of angry people to protest on the streets only to get about four hundred people and turn what should have been a mass protest into a skirmish with the police, which resulted in injuries and multiple arrests. Instead of learning their lesson and trying to win Americans over, the Weathermen then decided that if the public had abandoned them, they were going to abandon the public too, and went underground, choosing the path of terrorism. Lerner calls it a "spoiled-brat, feelings-hurt motivation" disguised with rants about the need for armed action. Although they wanted others to think that they chose going underground over surrender, many Weathermen were charged with felony for reasons such as mob action and assaulting an officer, and were hiding to escape trials and jail.
Another serious problem that the author pinpoints is that once you became a Weatherman it was virtually impossible to return to public life. He nicknamed the organization the Weather Machine because the other members and he had to suppress their individual wills and learn "to function like cogs and gears," and to think in a controlled way, which eventually distorted their perception of American society so much that going back to college seemed to them as unacceptable as becoming a police informant. In a way, the Weather Underground was a cult – and a violent one at that.
Furthermore, it resembled a small Communist state as its members adopted techniques such as “criticism/self-criticism” sessions like the ones conducted during the Cultural Revolution in China. During meetings that could last the whole night, Weathermen were supposed to repent if they had not used the right words when trying to inspire people to join the organization, for instance. According to the author, undergoing such sessions usually involved your self-esteem's being destroyed by the leadership.
As a gay person, Lerner also addresses the widespread homophobia in the Weather Underground. As long as he was in the organization, he had to remain closeted because, just like feminism, homosexuality, especially men's, was out of the question in the macho environment of the group. The Weathermen were by far not as open-minded and liberated as they wanted to believe that they were – or at least they were liberated in an unnatural way, the men praying on the women. According to one woman activist, "Sex was obligatory. There was no political defense. The correct line was that everyone should have an equal relationship with everyone. It was almost all forced, as opposed to something with an emotional or friendly level."
SWORDS IN THE HANDS OF CHILDREN is a short, but rewarding read. Lerner casts light on the issues that plagued the Weather Underground from within. This book exposes the lack of critical judgment, the omnipotence of the leadership, the forced free love, and the ever-present threat of banishment that turned what should have been a group of dedicated protesters against the Vietnam conflict and racism into a cult-like organization.
Lerner's journey of radicalism began in 1967, when he dropped out of college and joined Students for a Democratic Society, "a big, chaotic but fecund, broadly leftist but relatively welcoming and sometimes even effective mass organization." Then, after SDS disbanded, he joined the Weather Underground, which emerged from its debris, and continued to be involved in the new organization's activities until 1976, when he escaped the haze that the radical turmoil of the decade had thrown him into.
The author does not avoid exposing the dark side of the student radicals and the ideas that they fought for. For instance, the popular call to "smash monogamy" was excused as a way to free girlfriends from the domination of their boyfriends, but, according to the author, it also had the effect of freeing previously attached women to be sexually available to the leaders of the Weather Underground, or to any other guy who felt empowered to coerce them. He underscores that at some point Bernadine Dohrn was the only woman on the Weather Bureau because no other woman could last long in that environment.
Regarding the Days of Rage, which were a spectacular failure, the author deserves praise for calling a spade a spade. He depicts how during the preparation for the Days the Weathermen transformed themselves into "an infantry of swaggering kamikazes" that expected to organize tens of thousands of angry people to protest on the streets only to get about four hundred people and turn what should have been a mass protest into a skirmish with the police, which resulted in injuries and multiple arrests. Instead of learning their lesson and trying to win Americans over, the Weathermen then decided that if the public had abandoned them, they were going to abandon the public too, and went underground, choosing the path of terrorism. Lerner calls it a "spoiled-brat, feelings-hurt motivation" disguised with rants about the need for armed action. Although they wanted others to think that they chose going underground over surrender, many Weathermen were charged with felony for reasons such as mob action and assaulting an officer, and were hiding to escape trials and jail.
Another serious problem that the author pinpoints is that once you became a Weatherman it was virtually impossible to return to public life. He nicknamed the organization the Weather Machine because the other members and he had to suppress their individual wills and learn "to function like cogs and gears," and to think in a controlled way, which eventually distorted their perception of American society so much that going back to college seemed to them as unacceptable as becoming a police informant. In a way, the Weather Underground was a cult – and a violent one at that.
Furthermore, it resembled a small Communist state as its members adopted techniques such as “criticism/self-criticism” sessions like the ones conducted during the Cultural Revolution in China. During meetings that could last the whole night, Weathermen were supposed to repent if they had not used the right words when trying to inspire people to join the organization, for instance. According to the author, undergoing such sessions usually involved your self-esteem's being destroyed by the leadership.
As a gay person, Lerner also addresses the widespread homophobia in the Weather Underground. As long as he was in the organization, he had to remain closeted because, just like feminism, homosexuality, especially men's, was out of the question in the macho environment of the group. The Weathermen were by far not as open-minded and liberated as they wanted to believe that they were – or at least they were liberated in an unnatural way, the men praying on the women. According to one woman activist, "Sex was obligatory. There was no political defense. The correct line was that everyone should have an equal relationship with everyone. It was almost all forced, as opposed to something with an emotional or friendly level."
SWORDS IN THE HANDS OF CHILDREN is a short, but rewarding read. Lerner casts light on the issues that plagued the Weather Underground from within. This book exposes the lack of critical judgment, the omnipotence of the leadership, the forced free love, and the ever-present threat of banishment that turned what should have been a group of dedicated protesters against the Vietnam conflict and racism into a cult-like organization.
April 16, 2018
This is a very interesting book. It is a look back by a mature man on his life in the Weather Underground. It is NOT a history or analysis on 1960s leftist terrorism. It does introduce the reader to the animosity that existed between various radical groups, some of the less than admirable attitudes of the movements leaders and some of the actions of activists such as Bill Ayer. It also shows some of the early conflicts faced by gay people of the time period.
Although my own political views are not aligned with those of the author, I enjoyed the book. It did not preach gay liberation. It explained how the author thought at the time and looking back in reflection. It did the same with the review on leftist liberal politics of the time. The book was reflective, not whiny or preachy. It reminded me a bit of the book put out by German RAF terrorist Bommi Baumann.
Regardless of your political leanings or view on liberal activism, I recommend this book for anyone interested in the time period.
Although my own political views are not aligned with those of the author, I enjoyed the book. It did not preach gay liberation. It explained how the author thought at the time and looking back in reflection. It did the same with the review on leftist liberal politics of the time. The book was reflective, not whiny or preachy. It reminded me a bit of the book put out by German RAF terrorist Bommi Baumann.
Regardless of your political leanings or view on liberal activism, I recommend this book for anyone interested in the time period.
July 13, 2017
I won a copy of this book on goodreads in exchange for an honest review. I don't really know what I thought about this book. It seemed to jump around a lot and honestly I think missed the whole point of it. It was interestimg to know about the weathermen or what other variation of tbe name they used I never heard of them before, that being said I am Canadian so our focus of learning about this time period was The Quebec crisis of the early 1970's. I think people that like studying politics and how it evolves would like this book, as well as those interested in counter culture of the the late sixties and early seventies would also enjoy it. This was just not my cup of tea.
May 17, 2020
Ever find yourself wondering if anyone who ever played a part, could they turn around and hate it? Well, making a case study of Student for a Democratic Society and Weather Underground hanger-on Jonathan Lerner’s memoir of sixties radicals gone mild, Swords in the Hands of Children, the answer evidently is, “yes,” and I guess rightfully so.
September 3, 2017
Won on Goodreads. A must read by anyone contemplating this years violence.
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November 6, 2017I read this book with vertiginous speed – as if I’d taken Lisdexamfetamine! In some ways it’s the ultimate Weatherman memoir: a precise accounting of an escalating madness. The Weather Underground were a lot more like a street gang than I imagined! (Drawn to physical violence, guided by the “coolest” kids.) Yet for Jonathan, the Revolution was a kind of noncredit college, teaching him graphics, accounting, the art of writing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews