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Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young

My Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground

Zayd Ayers Dohrn

$65

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English
Chatto & Windus
11 July 2026
The son of the FBI's most wanted woman tells the electrifying story of a childhood on the run and a half-century of revolutionary struggle in America for readers of Angela Davis' autobiography, THE RETURN by Hisham Matar, and JUST KIDS by Patti Smith

'A fascinating journey that illuminates, in often thought-provoking ways, the politics of violence in radical movements' Angela Davis

The son of the FBI's most wanted woman tells the electrifying story of a childhood on the run - and a half-century of revolutionary struggle in America

We all grapple with a past that defines us- culture, religion, a family story. But what happens when you inherit a revolution?

Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born underground. His parents were fugitives after a decade fighting the US government; his mother co-founded a leftist radical group called the Weathermen, and replaced Angela Davis on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. All his life, Dohrn's parents said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle but, in this explosive memoir, he discovers that story wasn't entirely true.

Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young offers a page-turning account of an infamous family and their life in hiding, as well as the political battles of the '60s and '70s. At its heart it asks big questions- how can a child survive when the place they feel safest - with their family - also puts them in danger? What does it mean to be a good revolutionary, and how should young people today try to change the world?
By:  
Imprint:   Chatto & Windus
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 240mm,  Width: 164mm,  Spine: 41mm
Weight:   670g
ISBN:   9781784745783
ISBN 10:   1784745782
Pages:   448
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Zayd Ayers Dohrn is an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. He is also a Professor and Director of the MFA on Writing for the Screen + Stage at Northwestern University. His recent projects include the hit narrative podcast Mother Country Radicals and the punk/metal/hip-hop protest musical Revolutions.

Reviews for Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young: My Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground

'Riveting as a thriller, this wise and searching memoir about a family, an era, and a movement tells a story about America we’ve never quite heard before... It’s fearless, big-hearted, and profound. I simply couldn’t put it down.' * Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild * 'Stands out as definitive...a meticulously researched history of an explosive time as well as a deeply felt, intimate portrait of a very unusual family.' * Dana Spiotta, New York Times * 'Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s deeply moving Dangerous Dirty Violent & Young swept me away. A mix of memoir, history and journalism, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read. Dohrn isn’t afraid to wrestle with the moral ambiguities of the time and of those at the center of his life. It’s an astonishing story written with such an open heart.' * Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here * Conjured into the present by a genuine literary master, recollecting what he saw as a sensitive child, the oft-told tale of the Weathermen catches fire here, illuminating a strangeness with which we all wrestle: the mysteries of family resentment and filial love. * Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland * 'What a book! Exhilarating, maddening, contemplative, and mournful. The book arrives at a critical time ...Through deft and exquisite storytelling, Zayd Ayers Dohrn distills a history that shows...how each of us must grapple with the moral and human dimensions of our movements.' * Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective * 'Zayd Dohrn’s journey into the past is a rare and profound gift — one that breaks your heart even as it quietly fills it with hope. Each page is at once beautiful, painful, and powerful. It is everything we need right now: deeply moving and urgent.' * Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood in the Water: the Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy. *


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