Hazel Wolf: Fighting the Establishment

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Summary: Hazel Wolf- A persistent power for the right things in life
Review: A powerful woman! If you think you have energy, read what this woman did right up to the end of her 101 years.

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Summary: Activist Wanted to Have Fun
Review: Hazel Wolf could have been your grandmother. A real tomboy, she grew up with her toes in the sand of Pacific Northwest beaches and her fingers around a basketball. The working class kids of Victoria B.C. were her "gang," and the comradeship and fun they cooked up animated her whole life.

Later, working as a secretary in Depression-era Seattle, Wolf organized fledgling unions wherever the bosses assigned her. They'd fire her for organizing, re-assign her to a new job, and she would begin organizing again. Like she always did, Hazel was just making friends and having fun.

In one of the "Hazel Stories" that fill the book, sheriff's deputies tried to evict a down-and-out family from their home by carrying the furniture out onto the sidewalk. Hazel and her friends, who sometimes cared to call themselves socialists or communists, simply carried the chairs and tables back into the house through the back door. The sheriff eventually gave up.

The U.S. government tried to deport Hazel Wolf during the McCarthy period because she was a) a communist, and b)Canadian. Just like the sheriff, the feds failed, too. Hazel had thousands of friends, and she wasn't afraid of political pressure. As she said, "I was just there, powerless and strong, someone who wouldn't chicken out. Somebody always stops the nonsense all through history."

Author Susan Starbuck says Hazel Wolf knew her life would make an important story; that it might evoke the next generation of social and environmental activists. At bookstore readings, Starbuck tells prospective readers, "Hey folks, here's an owner's manual about what to do when your government runs amok." The message of "Hazel Wolf: Fighting the Establishment" is theat we, too could have fun being activists...and also change the world.

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Summary: a manual for activists plus a great read!
Review: Hazel Wolf really understood how to organize and shares her knowledge with the reader. But don't be fooled by the practical nature of that remark: Hazel Wolf was also a great character and funny. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read about a woman with an amazing (and very long)life who knew how to get things done, how to grow and move with the times, and never lacked the self confidence to go for what she wanted.

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Summary: An accurate and interesting book about a true hero
Review: Hazel Wolf was a friend of mine and fellow board member on the Seattle Audubon Society for nearly 25 years. Susan Starbuck's book about Hazel is both highly entertaining and a very personal view of this unique woman. Susan has done a masterful job of weaving together a myriad of stories from and about Hazel into a coherent guide to Hazel's life as a dedicated organizer of social movements from her early life through her death at 101. Hazel never saw a wrong that she felt could not be righted. She dedicated her life to achieving justice, whether it was for working men and women, for jail inmates, for racial justice, for the environment or against war, often at the expense of her own personal and family life. Hazel led the way for women's independence and liberation through hard work and example without ever thinking about the meaning of those terms. At a recent celebration of Hazel's 105th birthday, Congressman Jim McDermitt and Governor Mike Lowry both said that in these times of Bush's war, we need Hazel's example of leadership more than ever.

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Summary: Skillfully Done.
Review: I have just completed reading Hazel Wolf's biography by Susan Starbuck, which was published by the University of Washington Press. Ms. Starbuck has skillfully knit together the words of Ms. Wolf, based on years of interviews with her, with her own author's narrative. Because Ms. Wolf's life was so dramatic and has been so vividly presented by the author, the book is interesting and preserves an important part of Northwest political history.

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Summary: A Must for Northwest Readers
Review: In Hazel Wolf the intrepid determination of an irrepressible activist and feminist of the Northwest comes to life. The book captures the astute and often feisty voice of this extraordinary woman through her stories and memories. I found the book very compelling reading with its smooth progression of "stories" of a life never tranquil. As a newcomer to the Northwest, I loved getting to know this legendary woman through her own eyes. Additionally, Hazel Wolf's narratives gave me a richer understanding of the politics, environmental policies, and social history of the 20th Century. Starbuck's extensive research and painstaking ethnography impress as well; her self-effacing approach to the text fosters the impression that Hazel Wolf is speaking directly to the reader. I can imagine that Starbuck's relationship with Hazel Wolf was founded on mutual confidence and respect. Ultimately, the book inspires its reader to "act." Hazel Wolf is a spirited and gutsy woman, and anyone living in the Northwest should get to know her.

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Summary: A must read for anyone interested in NW history
Review: The jacket states that this book was based on twenty years of taped conversations. What it doesn't make clear is that the book is a mainly a transcription of these tapes; so this book is essentially an autobiography, rather than a biography!! What a pleasant and marvelous surprise![.] The author is to be commended for crafting this book by letting Hazel tell her story herself.
In addition to learning more about Hazel, I found this book an interesting accounting of some difficult times in this country, and what life has been like in the Pacific Northwest over the past century.