The Nation.

Bella's Way

By Nona Willis Aronowitz

This article appeared in the February 4, 2008 edition of The Nation.

January 17, 2008

Write a Web letter about this article.

What's a Web Letter?

Web Letters are continuously published e-mails from real people, signed with their real names. No registration is required. Each article page on The Nation includes a Web Letters link.

Read the best Web Letters on this page.

We're committed to publishing your comments as they are received. We place a red star () on the best submissions and may edit your e-mail for length or content. Your e-mail address will not be published or shared with any third party without your consent.

If you prefer, you may submit a letter to the print edition only.

We look forward to hearing from you.

  • I am surprised to hear the Ms. Aronwitz (and by default, the editors of The Nation) believe a complex historical personage "confounds" librarians and archivists. I find and hope the truth is contrary. Most archivists, including myself, and librarians welcome the collections and works of people of all depths and accomplishments in our efforts to document and preserve history, its events and personalities. Describing or "categorizing" (cataloging their works or related items?) to include myriad subjects and facets is not a difficulty or even challenging; rather, it is a pleasure.

    Nancy L Webster

    La Grange, IL

    01/28/2008 @ 12:10pm


  • In her review Ms. Aronowitz quotes me as offering Bella Abzug some advice about lipstick, or rather about not wearing lipstick, when she was going to address a radical feminist conference. The quote is culled from Bella's recollection of what I said. My recollection of our exchange stands very nicely on p. 107, just below Bella's recollection. Not a whisper about lipstick. I did urge her to tell the conference of 20-something radicals that it was her 50th birthday, a hard age for a woman, even Bella, to own up to in those years. And she did, to thunderous applause.

    Susan Brownmiller

    New York, NY

    01/28/2008 @ 12:09pm


  • True story: I owned a restaurant on East 52st St., next door to the conference board of which Bella Abzug was a consulant. One rainy day, she came out the service door and called for her driver parked across the street to pull over to her side. As he did, his right rear fender hit the left front fender of a car parked in front of my restaurant, breaking his lights and damaging his bumper. Abzug's driver got out of the car to see the damage. Abzug looked up and down the street, saw no one, jumped in the car--and off they went. I took down the plate number and reported it to the police. That was the last i heard of it. It's amazing that even the righteous, when given the chance, will become crooks. The reason I'm writing about this is because she treated the wait staff like common dirt. It came to the point that no one would wait on her.

    Brian Dwyer

    New York, NY

    01/22/2008 @ 4:49pm


Popular Topics
Most Searched

Issues »

Most Emailed

Issues »

Blogs

» The Dreyfuss Report

Maliki the Thug | He says he wants the US out, but a former Iraqi prime minister has other ideas about Maliki.
Robert Dreyfuss

» Capitolism

John McCain's Private Language Problem | McCain: The surge means what I say it means.
Christopher Hayes

» Campaign 08

Cindy Sheehan is Putting Impeachment on the Table | A peace activist's independent campaign prods Speaker Pelosi.
John Nichols

» The Notion

Fox News Attacked by Rapper, Blackroots & Colbert | Fox's worst nightmare: Liberal bloggers and Black hip hop.
Ari Melber

» The Beat

Obama Sets the Right Middle East Peace Timeline | Like Carter, he says he would start working on inauguration day.
John Nichols

» ActNow!

Send Karl Rove to Jail | The former Bush advisor regards the law with contempt, so it's time the law and Congress hold him in contempt as well.
Peter Rothberg

» Editor's Cut

Rethinking Afghanistan | There is no easy answer but we need to think beyond the reflexive response of troop escalation in order to find sane and humane alternatives.
Katrina vanden Heuvel

» Passing Through

In Youth Organizing, the Old Becomes New Again | Organizational models and institutions from the 2004 election are beginning to see a revival in 2008.
Michael Connery

» And Another Thing

McCain Opposes Contraception -- Pass It On | He's for Viagra and against the pill. Why won't the media cover this important story?
Katha Pollitt