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Title details for My Body Politic by Simi Linton - Available

My Body Politic

A Memoir

by Simi Linton
ebook
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1 of 1 copy available
"I read My Body Politic with admiration, sometimes for the pain that all but wept on the page, again for sheer exuberant friendships, for self-discovery, political imagination, and pluck. . . . Wonderful! In a dark time, a gift of hope.
-Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

"The struggles, joys, and political awakening of a firecracker of a narrator. . . . Linton has succeeded in creating a life both rich and enviable. With her crackle, irreverence, and intelligence, it's clear that the author would never be willing to settle. . . . Wholly enjoyable."
-Kirkus Reviews

"Linton is a passionate guide to a world many outsiders, and even insiders, find difficult to navigate. . . . In this volume, she recounts her personal odyssey, from flower child . . . to disability-rights/human rights activist."
-Publishers Weekly

"Witty, original, and political without being politically correct, introducing us to a cast of funny, brave, remarkable characters (including the professional dancer with one leg) who have changed the way that 'walkies' understand disability. By the time Linton tells you about the first time she was dancing in her wheelchair, you will feel like dancing, too."

—-Carol Tavris, author of Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion

"This astonishing book has perfect pitch. It is filled with wit and passion. Linton shows us how she learned to 'absorb disability,' and to pilot a new and interesting body. With verve and wonder, she discovers her body's pleasures, hungers, surprises, hurts, strengths, limits, and uses."
-Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, author of Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature

"An extraordinarily readable account of life in the fast lane... a brilliant autobiography and a great read."
-Sander L. Gilman, author of Fat Boys: A Slim Book


While hitchhiking from Boston to Washington, D.C., in 1971 to protest the war in Vietnam, Simi Linton was involved in a car accident that paralyzed her legs and took the lives of her young husband and her best friend. Her memoir begins with her struggle to regain physical and emotional strength and to resume her life in the world. Then Linton takes us on the road she traveled (with stops in Berkeley, Paris, Havana) and back to her home in Manhattan, as she learns what it means to be a disabled person in America.

Linton eventually completed a Ph.D., remarried, and began teaching at Hunter College. Along the way she became deeply committed to the disability rights movement and to the people she joined forces with. The stories in My Body Politic are populated with richly drawn portraits of Linton's disabled comrades, people of conviction and lusty exuberance who dance, play-and organize—with passion and commitment.

My Body Politic begins in the midst of the turmoil over Vietnam and concludes with a meditation on the U.S. involvement in the current war in Iraq and the war's wounded veterans. While a memoir of the author's gradual political awakening, My Body Politic is filled with adventure, celebration, and rock and roll-Salvador Dali, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix all make cameo appearances. Linton weaves a tale that shows disability to be an ordinary part of the twists and turns of life and, simultaneously, a unique vantage point on the world.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 13, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780472121281
      • File size: 971 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780472121281
      • File size: 970 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 8, 2005
      Linton (Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity
      ) is a passionate guide to a world many outsiders, and even insiders, find difficult to navigate: the world of the differently-abled. In this volume, she recounts her personal odyssey, from flower child "walkie" in 1971 to disability-rights/human rights advocate in 2005. A car accident en route to a Vietnam War protest took the lives of Linton's husband and her best friend, and left Linton in a wheelchair. In the '70s, this meant almost a year in hospitals and rehab facilities before being released to cope with Manhattan before the Americans with Disabilities Act—no cut-throughs on street curbs, unusable public transportation, rarely accessible bathrooms in public buildings and inaccessible rooms in most schools and workplaces. Linton managed, as other disabled have, but it wasn't until she went to the West Coast and discovered the growing disability rights community that she began to see her situation in a political light. Disabled people networked to discover their commonalities, then went on to demand the right to speak for their own needs. Their perspectives—on sexuality, assisted suicide, urban design, social theory—offer such valuable insight on the human condition, all our lives are enriched by incorporating their perspectives.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from January 15, 2006
      In this memoir, Linton (Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity) recounts her experiences as a disabled woman after a 1971 car accident that killed her husband and best friend and left her wheelchair-bound. Linton takes readers through rehabilitation and the decades that followed, emphasizing her growing awareness of how the community of disabled people is -hidden - from mainstream society. She intertwines her story with those of disabled people who inspired her, such as Glenn, who showed her that dancing need not be restricted to those who can walk. Her memoir culminates with her leaving her career as a professor of psychology in order to lecture and consult in the field of disability studies full time. Although at times the author's mixing of her own story with those of others can cause confusion, Linton successfully argues that disabled people should be mainstreamed into all aspects of society, including classrooms, public transportation, housing and recreational activities -and disability activism. Required for both public and academic libraries, especially those with psychology or education collections." -Leigh Mihlrad, Albert Einstein Coll. of Medicine Lib., Bronx, NY"

      Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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