THE LONG HAUL: An Autobiography

by Myles with Herbert Kohl & Judith Kohl Horton ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1990

The feisty, unconventional founder of the Highlander Center in Tennessee tells of his life and educational philosophy, and in so doing gives an insider's account--characteristically pithy and inspirational--of the American labor and civil-rights movements. Lively and rich with anecdote, Horton's story is edited smoothly down from ten years of conversation with Herbert and Judith Kohl (coauthors: Pack, Band, and Colony: The World of Social Animals, 1983). From a dirt-poor Appalachian family, Herton early learned their basic tenet, that God's love meant ""Love thy neighbor,"" and that knowledge had to be put into action. (""You couldn't withdraw into a utopian community. To deal with injustice, you had to act in the world. You had to share what you knew."") He became a socialist, and in 1932 formed the Highlander Folk School to help people help themselves, using workshops and fieldwork, and based on Horton's philosophy that ""You don't have to know the answers. The answers come from the people, and when they don't have any answers, then you have another role, and you find resources."" Highlander's grass-roots activism still flourishes, and the book is seeded with the names of those who passed through or who influenced Herton--Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Addams--all in the long American tradition of local resistance sparking national change. Inspirational, then, but also as practical and purposeful as an Appalachian house-raising.

Pub Date: April 30, 1990

ISBN: 0807737003

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION