A Saving Remnant

The Radical Lives of Barbara Deming and David McReynolds

Martin Duberman

paperback

$19.95

Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, [A Saving Remnant] offers a timely lesson for contemporary activists who still dare to imagine—and struggle for—a more equitable and peaceful world.

Hailed as “remarkable” and “a must read” by Choice, A Saving Remnant is prizewinning historian and biographer Martin Duberman’s deeply revealing dual portrait that explores the fascinating political and social lives of two integral and captivating figures of the twentieth-century American left. Barbara Deming, a feminist, writer, and abidingly nonviolent activist, was an out lesbian from the age of sixteen. The first openly gay man to run for president on the Socialist Party ticket, David McReynolds was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War and was among the first activists to publicly burn a draft card.

Duberman brings the stories of a pivotal era vividly and movingly to life with an extraordinary cast of intellectuals, artists, and activists, including Adrienne Rich, Bayard Rustin, Allen Ginsberg, and a young Alvin Ailey. Telling a complex narrative, “Duberman has made it simply and brilliantly clear” (Edmund White, author of City Boy) as he deftly weaves together the connected stories of these two compelling figures in this beautiful, memorable book. 

Martin Duberman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the CUNY Graduate School, where he founded the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. His books include Paul Robenson, the memoir Cures: A Gay Man’s Odyssey, Black Mountain, and The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein (runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize). A recipient of the Bancroft Prize and a finalist for a National Book Award, he has recently completed a political biography of Howard Zinn (forthcoming from The New Press). He lives in New York City.