In my ongoing attempts at [un?] abashed self promotion, I thought I’d share the latest on the View From Third Street. which has garnered some great reviews and blurbs! Would much appreciate your help in spreading the word….Forward a link to friends? Post a review on Amazon? Ask your library to order it? Write an article or request an interview? Suggest or send to journos who will? Ok, so much for the ask.

I am totally grateful to:

• Alex S. Jones, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting on journalism, who describes the book as “An intimate and heartfelt memoir of “Ani,” the 23-year-old version of author and journalist Anita M. Harris, who lives and navigates the tumult of the early 1970s from the alternative newspaper she founded, with college friends, on Third Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.”

• Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present of American Labor. He calls The View from Third Street “ a highly readable memoir that delves into several fascinating chapters in U.S. history, including the protest movement against the Vietnam War, the birth of the anti-abortion movement, growing concerns about the abuse of farm workers, and American divisiveness at the time of Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Full of color and personal grace notes, these stories are told from the perspective of a young Pennsylvania-based journalist who was witnessing and writing about a fast-changing and rapidly polarizing America.
• Journalist Alison Bass, author of Brassy Broad, a memoir of her own groundbreaking work at the Boston Globe and elsewhere. Alison wrote a spectacular review in which she calls the View From Third Street “Amazingly redolent of our current social and political climate.” She totally nails it in the full review at https://alison-bass.com/anita-harriss-memoir-of-the-iconic-harrisburg-eight-trial-draws-parallels-with-the-present/ ).

In case you missed my launch talk, you can link to it and photos at Anitamharris.com . And you can find my books and recently updated author’s page on Amazon (where I took the opportunity to tell folks not to confuse me with the British rock star who totally hogs You Tube using my name).

Oh, I forgot to mention...buy the book?

Reviews: The View From Third Street

So pleased that more than 40 people from as near as Linnaean Street in Cambridge and as far away as Paris, France, came to the hybrid October 1 launch event for The View From Third Street at the Lincoln Mass. Public Library. Attendees included the daughter of the judge who oversaw the Trial of the Harrisburg Seven; Harrisburg Independent Press (HIP) co-founder Ed Zuckerman and various former HIP staffers; several of my journalism friends, family and friends. Wonderful research librarian Robin Rappaport handled the zoom portion; Marc Kessler and Susan Osgood helped with book sales; Joe Wrinn and Paul Hayre took pictures; friends KBS and others–some from my great writers group The Write Stuff–brought refreshments.

I spoke for about half an hour–folks asked great (tough) questions (like: is this creative nonfiction or a historical fiction? Are you discouraged at the world’s seeming return to times we thought (hoped) we’d never have to live through again? What would you be your advice to a young journalist starting out?). And they graciously laughed at my jokes.

In case you’re learning of The View From Third Street for the first time, here’s the brief cover copy;

The View From Third Street  tells the story of  a young journalist’s  search  for love and  truth as  she navigates social injustice, a major political trial, and a devastating flood at a tumultuous time of change.

This unconventional  memoir  draws on the experiences of  national journalist Anita M. Harris, who, with college friends, founded a weekly alternative newspaper to cover the Trial of the Harrisburg 7.  In that iconic 1972 Pennsylvania trial, nuns and priests stood accused of conspiring to kidnap Presidential Advisor Henry Kissinger and blow up underground heating tunnels in Washington, DC.

By showing how individuals dealt with the clashing forces of history at an earlier time, Harris hopes to support and inspire  a renewed quest for freedom and equality, today.

Here’s a link to the video replay of my talk on You Tube; you can learn more at AnitaMHarris.com… and BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON!!!

Here are a few of the photos–the first is by Paul Hayre, and the others are by Joe Wrinn.

You are cordially invited to celebrate the launch of my new book!

The View from Third Street

Saturday, October 1, 3:00—4:30 PM EST
ON ZOOM OR IN PERSON
Tarbell Room  Lincoln Public Library
3 Bedford Rd, Lincoln, MA

And on ZOOM
For a zoom link please register at
https://lincolnpl.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/author-anita-harris-on-the-view-from-third-street/

                                                       
As a fledgling reporter in the early 1970s, author Anita M. Harris and college friends helped found a small newspaper on Third Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Harrisburg Independent Press (AKA “HIP”) was first conceived to report on the Trial of the Harrisburg Seven– in which anti-Vietnam War nuns and priests were accused of conspiring to kidnap Presidential Advisor Henry Kissinger and blow up underground heating tunnels in Washington, DC,. True story!) Like the many other underground and alternative newspapers of the day, HIP covered civic, consumer, national and international issues–many with parallels in the unrest we are experiencing today.

In this unconventional memoir, Harris traces, from the point of view of Ani, her 23-year-old self, the founding of the newspaper, the trial, and the devastating Flood of 1972, which left 124 people dead. Interwoven, with humor and puzzlement, are stories of Ani’s love relationship, her coverage of poverty and social injustice, and HIP”s reporting on topics ranging from dirty movies to slave labor, heroin sales, racial discrimination; a burgeoning feminist movement, abortion rights and opposition to the Vietnam War.

The book also includes many images and cartoons–giving readers a sense of what it was like to live in those amazing times.

Anita M. Harris is an award-winning journalist, author and communications consultant who resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The View From Third Street is available from Amazon and at the Cornell University Store.