The Secret Wars Of Judi Bari: A Car Bomb, The Fight For The Redwoods, And The End Of Earth First

E-Book Overview

A longtime resident of Berkeley, Coleman is a seasoned investigative reporter who has written about the Black Panther Party, the counterculture and California politics for a number of publications, including Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Mother Jones. She turns her focus to Judi Bari (1949-1997), a 1960s Vietnam protester who went on to become an active militant feminist, environmentalist and leader of the radical eco-organization, Earth First! until her death in 1997 from cancer. Based on interviews with Bari's friends, comrades, and critics, Coleman traces Bari's evolution "from college activist to would-be Mother Jones of the Redwoods," providing an inside look at both Bari and the back-to-nature counterculture of Northern California.

E-Book Content

For Larry Lee, whose memory still inspires me. CONTENTS Chapter One 1 Chapter Two 15 Chapter Three 27 Chapter Four 33 Chapter Five 47 Chapter Six 59 Chapter Seven 77 Chapter Eight 95 Chapter Nine 113 Chapter Ten 127 Chapter Eleven 133 Chapter Twelve 143 Chapter Thirteen 151 Chapter Fourteen 161 Chapter Fifteen 177 Chapter Sixteen 187 Chapter Seventeen 205 Epilogue 219 Notes 233 Index 249 ONE TOWARD THE END OF 1989, an idea began percolating in the brain of one of those bushy-chinned visionaries who populate the North Coast of California: to raise a People’s Army to save the noble redwoods from the lumber companies’ rapacious logging. This visionary’s name—like most names of those in his tribe who had escaped the urban jungles for the redwood forests—