Biography & Autobiography Personal Memoirs
Red Diaper Baby
A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism
- Publisher
- House of Anansi Press Inc
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2019
- Category
- Personal Memoirs, Political
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781487006761
- Publish Date
- Apr 2019
- List Price
- $16.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781487006778
- Publish Date
- Apr 2019
- List Price
- $14.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
The remarkable memoir of growing up in a communist family at the height of the Cold War, by the late historian, public intellectual, and political activist, James Laxer.
Originally published in 2004, Red Diaper Baby is James Laxer’s extraordinary memoir of growing up in a communist family during the height of the Cold War. When Jim was born his father was in hiding under an assumed name. When it came time to begin school, Jim was enrolled under a false birth date. Throughout his childhood he was repeatedly instructed to tell noone what his father did for work.
Laxer’s parents were members of the Communist Party, true believers in an ideology generally reviled and outlawed during much of World War II. From an early age, Laxer was collecting signatures on ban-the-bomb petitions, delivering Party flyers door to door, attending eccentric left-wing Camp Naivelt, and campaigning for the charismatic J. B. Salsberg, a Communist MPP in the Ontario legislature.
Dramatic, humorous, and full of period detail, Red Diaper Baby offers a rare look at the McCarthy years through the eyes of a child. It also explains a great deal about Laxer’’s crucial role in the founding of the Waffle faction of the NDP, his continued engagement with the left, and his evolution into one of Canada’’s preeminent intellectuals.
About the author
James Laxer, a professor of political science at York University in Toronto, has a wealth of experience analyzing American society. His best-selling book, Stalking the Elephant: My Discovery of America was described by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Boston Globe David Shribman as "a book by a Canadian that can change the United States." The book was by published by the New Press in New York under the title Discovering America: Travels in the Land of Guns, God and Corporate Gurus. One of Canada’s leading political thinkers, Laxer is frequently consulted for commentary of current national and global issues by the media. He lives in Toronto.
Editorial Reviews
A rare glimpse into the tiny and now mostly forgotten milieu of Canadian Stalinism.
National Post
One of the most gripping and chilling autobiographical accounts ever penned by a Canadian political figure.
Ottawa Citizen
Laxer does a brilliant job of conveying the confusion of trying to negotiate these two worlds as a child.
Quill and Quire
