Radical Son

Greg loaned me his copy of Radical Son, a book I meant to read eight years ago.

The rhetoric was heated, but by the time I reentered the political battle, I had made a decision to speak in the voice of the New Left--outraged, aggressive, morally certain. I would frame indictments as we had framed them, but from the other side. I wanted equity for those who had defended democracy against the Communist threat. I wanted justice for the victims of our crusades. I wanted my former comrades to be put on the receiving end of accusations like those they had made against everyone else. I wanted them to see how it felt. Evidently, it did not feel good. When I reached the point in my speech where I said "It is no accident the greatest atrocities of the Twentieth Century have been committed by Marxist radicals in power," my words were shouted down and the microphone was cut off.

David Horowitz, "red diaper baby" and charter member of the New Left.

Next up: Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts about the Sixties