SOMETHING FIERCE: MEMOIRS OF A REVOLUTIONARY DAUGHTER


By: Aguirre, Carmen

" Something Fierceis raw, courageously honest, and funny; an insightful journey into the formation of a revolutionary soul." The Globe and Mail In Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter, renowned actor Carmen Aguirre skillfully pilots readers straight into her girlhood initiation into a revolutionary family and ultimate decision, at age nineteen, to commit herself to the life of a radical. With vivid immediacy, Aguirre paints the political context and intimate experience of 1980s-era South American struggles against neo-liberal dictatorships: What does it feel like to be a child in the gun sights of Augusto Pinochet's henchmen? How did the US-backed governments of revolutionary Latin America collaborate in eliminating dissent at the cost of a still untold number of ruined lives? Refreshingly frank, personable, and often wry, Something Fiercerecalls the work of Gioconda Belli and Assata Shakur, paying special attention to the particular demands made of revolutionary womento leave the raising of their children to others or directly involve them in struggle, to eschew romantic love for revolutionary action, to embrace "revolution" over "culture." A literal page-turner, Something Fiercereveals how "normal" people confront a life of privation andcommunal action, of terror alongside an unerring dedication that offers its own satisfactions. Bearing witness to the costs, beauty, and even seductions of resistance, Aguirre impels us to question: Do we choose revolution, or does revolution choose us? Carmen Aguirreis an award-winning playwright and actor with extensive credits in US and Canadian theater, film, and television. TitleWave