New Biography Preserves the Life and Legend Of Mario Savio http://www.dailycal.org/article/107329/new_biography_preserves_the_life_and_legend_of_mar
By Maggie Owens November 2, 2009 We know his legacy. Though the movement he pioneered ended all of 44 years ago, it's impossible to underestimate or even ignore the long-lasting effect Mario Savio had on UC Berkeley. A single stroll through campus acts as an inadvertent reminder of Savio's achievements as a Berkeley student activist: the steps of Sproul Hall, which he used for sermons and proclamations; the plaza it sits on, where he stood among thousands in riots and protests; and even the cafe named for the Free Speech Movement, which he led. Savio's legacy is accessible everywhere. It is Mario himself-the man behind the movement-who we have not known until now. "Freedom's Orator," New York University professor Robert Cohen's biography on Savio (in fact, the only available biography on Savio), acts as an ample solution to this problem. In this book, Cohen collects Savio's speeches, manuscripts, letters and even his personal memoir-the contents of which have remained unreleased and unpublished. Along with these, Cohen interviewed those who knew Savio best, including friends, family and other political activists. For the first and only biography on such an icon, "Freedom's Orator" seems to be unbeatably thorough. But what's best is that it isn't too thorough. Cohen doesn't insert every found detail on Savio and trap himself in the pitfall that many biographers do: being detailed to the point of tedium. So while we may be presented with seemingly shallow tidbits of his life, like his reluctance to enter a science fair as a young student or his view of the show "Roseanne," no detail remains purposeless in Cohen's storytelling. Throughout the entire narrative, surprisingly exhaustive as it may be, Cohen firmly holds onto his original purpose to illustrate how one New York altar boy became America's most notable student activist. Cohen sets the stage with Mario as a young boy struggling to overcome a lisp and a history of molestation and tells the narrative all the way through his lesser-known political battles in his later life. We are not only presented with a 21-year-old protester that climbed on top of police cars and spoke to thousands of his charged collegiate peers. We are also introduced to a Savio we don't know. We meet a young boy overcoming unthinkable obstacles in becoming a leader and later a man who has passed his prime and won his main battle (when he "had free speech, but nothing left to say"). These are the times in "Freedom's Orator" that are most fresh, most revealing and often most heartbreaking. But, of course, it was the movement for unbridled freedom of speech on our college campus that greatly marked and defined Savio's life. Though Cohen's biography provides what may be new insight to some, the most important accomplishment of "Freedom's Orator" is reminding its reader how vital Savio was in the 1964 revolution that he shaped profoundly. In our turbulent times as Berkeley students, with ever-rising tuition, budget cuts and consequent walkouts, it's nearly impossible to miss Savio's legacy in our political climate as a university. No matter which side of the debate or spectrum we may find ourselves, we can always recognize that it was Savio that paved the way for the activism that we see every day before us. "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part," Savio once said. This quote adorns the wall of the Free Speech Movement Cafe. Cohen balances fact with sensation well. He never gets too mundane and yet never actually canonizes Savio. He approaches the entire subject, start to finish, with careful passion. But it would have been quite remarkable had he not managed to describe such a charismatic icon with passion. Ultimately, the appeal of the work comes not from Cohen's approach, which is an effective one, but from the desire to catch a glimpse of the famous Mario Savio beyond his legacy-the man behind the movement. There can be no better or more appropriate time to further understand a man who forever redefined what it means to be a UC Berkeley student. . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
