The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 21 March 1998
by Jerry Rubin
In Do It!, Jerry Rubin related the story of the Yippies and of Chicago in 1968 with frantic energy and the colorful drug-laced language of 60s revolution. In Growing (Up) at 37 he moves on to the years after the trial of the Chicago Seven, and into the personal growth movement of the 70s. Rubin writes without irony, seeming a little naive and sincere as he explores Fischer-Hoffmann psychic therapy, yoga, jogging, est, and various other personal growth gimicks and plans. Overall, his story is self-indulgent. Rubin reveals a lot of himself. He talks about politics, family, health, the media and revolution. Famous for supposedly "selling-out" and becoming a stock broker (later touring the country debating Abble Hoffman) he reveals that he was a stock owner even as he was tossing dollar bills into the New York Stock Exchange with Abbie Hoffman during a Yippie demonstration. He also reveals that he was high on speed throughout the time he was writing Do It!. There are a few other revealing tidbits about the 60s, and these were more interesting than his descriptions of his personal awakening. His story is even-handed, but as if he felt obliged to criticize (est, for instance) because he really seemed to be taking these things seriously. (Sadly, Rubin died in 1994, after being struck by a car on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles.)