Sasha and Emma : The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman

In 1889 two Russian immigrants, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, met in a coffee shop on the Lower East Side. Over the next fifty years Emma and Sasha would be fast friends, fleeting lovers, and loyal comrades. This dual biography offers an unprecedented glimpse into their intertwined lives, the lasting influence of the anarchist movement they shaped, and their unyielding commitment to equality and justice. Berkman shocked the country in 1892 with "the first terrorist act in America," the failed assassination of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick for his crimes against workers. Passionate and pitiless, gloomy yet gentle, Berkman remained Goldman's closest confidant though the two were often separated-by his fourteen-year imprisonment and by Emma's growing fame as the champion of a multitude of causes, from sexual liberation to freedom of speech. The blazing sun to Sasha's morose moon, Emma became known as "the most dangerous woman in America." Through an attempted prison breakout, multiple bombing plots, and a dramatic deportation from America, these two unrelenting activists insisted on the improbable ideal of a socially just, self-governing utopia, a vision that has shaped movements across the past century, most recently Occupy Wall Street. Sasha and Emma is the culminating work of acclaimed historian of anarchism Paul Avrich. Before his death, Avrich asked his daughter to complete his magnum opus. The resulting collaboration, epic in scope, intimate in detail, examines the possibilities and perils of political faith and protest, through a pair who both terrified and dazzled the world. Contents 8 Preface 10 Prologue 14 I. Impelling Forces 18 1. Mother Russia 20 2. Pioneers of Liberty 33 3. The Trio 43 4. Autonomists 56 5. Homestead 64 6. Attentat 74 7. Judgment 93 8. Buried Alive 111 9. Blackwell’s and Brady 124 10. The Tunnel 137 11. Red Emma 148 12. The Assassination of McKinley 165 13. E. G. Smith 194 II. Palaces of the Rich 206 14. Resurrection 208 15. The Wine of Sunshine and Liberty 222 16. The Inside Story of Some Explosions 241 17. Trouble in Paradise 264 18. The Blast 279 19. The Great War 294 20. Big Fish 302 III. Open Eyes 316 21. The Russian Dream 318 22. The Bolshevik Myth 330 23. Charlottengrad 341 24. Globe-Trotters and Colonizers 351 25. Now and After 370 26. Bon Esprit 384 27. Pillar to Post 393 28. Old Glory 402 29. Nothing but Death Can End 416 30. Waldheim 427 Notes 442 Acknowledgments 512 Index 514 In 1889 Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman met in a Lower East Side coffee shop. Over the next fifty years they became fast friends, fleeting lovers, and loyal comrades. This dual biography offers a glimpse into their intertwined lives, the influence of the anarchist movement they shaped, and their unyielding commitment to equality and justice. This dual biography offers an unprecedented glimpse into the intertwined lives of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, the lasting influence of the anarchist movement they shaped, and their unyielding commitment to equality and justice