Pat Thomas is the co-editor of Invitation to Openness: the Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann 1960-1980 and Ernie in Kovacsland. He is the author of Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg, Listen Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, and Did It! Jerry Rubin: An American Revolutionary. He lives in California. Jerry Rubin (1938-1994) was an American social activist, anti-Vietnam War leader, enemy of Richard Nixon and countercultural icon during the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, he pioneered social-networking parties at Studio 54.
This tome is a unique oral and visual history heavy enough to sink into your coffee table. An eye-opener for those who remember the '60s; for everyone else, a welcome introduction to that tumultuous time as illustrated through one of its most memorable personalities. Creatively presented in an anecdotal scrapbook style combining text, posters, flyers, diaries, calendars, photographs, and assorted ephemera, Thomas captures electrifying moments from the last half century of American history. Brimming with photographs, clippings, pages from Rubin's daybooks, and interviews with myriad counterculture figures, this large volume chronicles Rubin's life from his traditional Jewish upbringing through his raucous antiwar and antiestablishment activism and transformation into a capitalist investor or, as many said, 'sellout.' Thomas' tribute is as dynamic as its subject. In this beautifully designed coffee-table scrapbook, Thomas has stitched together one of the most exciting countercultural chronicles. Did It! is not only an important historical document, it's a deeply engaging and entertaining book. Did It! is a big, gorgeous book about Sixties/Seventies cultural revolutionary superstar, Jerry Rubin that finally accords him his place in American history.