I recently finished reading Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey by David Horowitz, an autobiography published in 1996. Horowitz was born into a passionately Communist family in the United States and followed in his parents’ footsteps as a young man.

The narrative describes his childhood and young adult years in engaging and descriptive prose. As a young man, he becomes deeply involved in the politics of the New Left. His experiences during this time are quite interesting from a historical point of view, as they relate to the organizations, people, and events prominent in the history of the radical left and to the larger geopolitics of the time.

There is a nice balance of the personal and political, as Horowitz details his family life, as well as his work and relationships in the world of politics. Eventually he begins to have questions about his worldview and the work in which he’s engaged. These “second thoughts,” as he sometimes refers to them as, end up deeply affecting his life and mental health and he undergoes a long and difficult transformation.

I found this autobiography to be an engrossing and very well-written view into someone else’s experiences and, ultimately, their interior life. The historical details, written from a participant’s personal perspective, add another layer of understanding beyond a simple chronological accounting of an era in our country’s history, as well as offer a window into the life of a single individual.