Emma

Rating:
Summary: Accurate and Needed but...
Review: Zinn does an excellent job of introducing readers to Goldman, Berkman, Most, Reitman and others. Readers get an accurate sense of their personalities and concerns, a consequence of Zinn's ability to adapt actual source material in the dialogue.

The problem with play is that its intention seems to almost entirely consist in introducing readers to Goldman et al. Although that is a worthy aim, the play itself lacks the dramatic tension necessary to lend cohesion to its snapshots of Goldman's life. The play seems loosely organized around Berkman's incarceration and Goldman's erotic relationships. Because these events happened over several years, the play attempts to cover too much time and, consequently, lacks the dramatic intensity of a shortened time frame.

Still, for anyone who loves and studies Goldman (as I do), this is a must read. It's clear that Zinn fully appreciates the greatness of this much-neglected radical.

Rating:
Summary: Accurate and Needed but...
Review: Zinn does an excellent job of introducing readers to Goldman, Berkman, Most, Reitman and others. Readers get an accurate sense of their personalities and concerns, a consequence of Zinn's ability to adapt actual source material in the dialogue.

The problem with play is that its intention seems to almost entirely consist in introducing readers to Goldman et al. Although that is a worthy aim, the play itself lacks the dramatic tension necessary to lend cohesion to its snapshots of Goldman's life. The play seems loosely organized around Berkman's incarceration and Goldman's erotic relationships. Because these events happened over several years, the play attempts to cover too much time and, consequently, lacks the dramatic intensity of a shortened time frame.

Still, for anyone who loves and studies Goldman (as I do), this is a must read. It's clear that Zinn fully appreciates the greatness of this much-neglected radical.