Split: A Counterculture Childhood

Her father was jailed for antiwar activities, her mother lived temporarily in a commune, she was photographed as a toddler carrying a Vietcong flag--A Counterculture Childhood seems an apt subtitle for Michaels's recollections. But this thoughtful memoir doesn't trade in clichés or facile characterizations as it chronicles the years from Michaels's birth in 1966 through her recent marriage. In some ways, she was like any child of divorce, shuttling between two households and struggling with unacknowledged anger; but she also had to deal with classmates' perceptions of her as a "hippie kid" in rural northern California. Political concerns form the backdrop for a sensitive psychological portrait of growing up--a process similar for all people regardless of their parents' lifestyles. --Wendy Smith