Alex S. Jones, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting on journalism: “An intimate and heartfelt memoir of “Ani,” the 23-year-old version of author and journalist Anita M. Harris, who lives and navigates the tumult of the early 1970s from the alternative newspaper she founded, with college friends, on Third Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.”
Steven Greenhouse, author of “Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present of American Labor: “The View from Third Street is a highly readable memoir that delves into several fascinating chapters in U.S. history, including the protest movement against the Vietnam War, the birth of the anti-abortion movement, growing concerns about the abuse of farm workers, and American divisiveness at the time of Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Full of color and personal grace notes, these stories are told from the perspective of a young Pennsylvania-based journalist who was witnessing and writing about a fast-changing and rapidly polarizing America.
Journalist Alison Bass, who recently published Brassy Broad, a memoir of her own groundbreaking work at the Boston Globe and elsewhere: “Amazingly redolent of our current social and political climate.” She totally nails it in a full review at Alison-bass.com.
Historian Jane Hunter: Anita Harris begins her memoir about her experience fifty years ago in the grungy newsroom of the the Harrisburg Independent Press with its pitch to its readers: “We will not seek controversy for its own sake, but we will welcome it for the sake of reform and revelation.”
Rich in evocative detail, Harris’s latter-day account delivers on the Press’s initial commitments. Harris pulls up the day-to-day coverage of a generation’s political awakening, the stories the scarcely-paid staff covered and the things they learned. Her first story “County Packs Juries with Housewives, Retired,” reveals that 100% of one jury pool were retired and/or housewives–no peers of the young male offenders. Tips came in. Reporters from a competing paper sought their help in covering their publisher’s collusion in suppressing evidence of conflict of interest between elected officials and business. (Ani went undercover to the competing paper to copy down the relevant in-house memo posted near the Ladies Room, scribbling in a stall as she got the exact wording.)
“Ani,” Anita Harris’s name for her 23-year-old self, was no sexual or political radical. She lived with a boyfriend working for the governor and was “something of a prude” she says. Feminism was just emerging from embryo. Religion was a story here too. (The trial of Roman Catholic peace activists for a plot against the federal government—the trial of the Harrisburg 8– is a through line.) Written in a light and sometimes humorous voice, The View from Third Street provides a nuanced look at the frequently simplified ‘70s generation—and the issues that Ani and the newsroom surfaced.
Especially today as small-city investigative newspapers around the country fold, Harris shows that the Harrisburg Independent Press is worth remembering– for the light it shed, and for the energy, commitment and talent of its youthful staff.
Jim Wiggins, former editor at the Harrisburg Independent Press: I just finished your book, and I have to say I found it a beautifully written and evocative coming-of-age memoir. I’m impressed with your ability to remember in such detail events that occurred so long ago, and, where memory may have fallen prey to its eternal enemy imprecision, your imagination in reconstructing things to recapture their essential truths. Brava!
Ed Zuckerman, cofounder, Harrisburg Independent Press and TV writer,” Law and Order,” “Blue Bloods,” “JAG“: Anita Harris has taken a remarkable journey to the past and returned to tell the tale. The time was the early 1970s, the place Harrisburg, PA, where several priests, nuns, and others were on trial in federal court for protesting the war in Vietnam, where 50,000 American soldiers and countless Vietnamese had been killed. It was also a time in which young women like Anita, who had been children during years when intelligent women could have careers as nurses or teachers and not much else, were coming to terms with head-spinning changes as to what they could be, how they could be and, not incidentally, whom they could sleep with. In her memoir, The View From Third Street, Anita remembers it all. She had a front-row seat to the action — and perplexities — of the time as a star reporter for an underfunded “alternative” newspaper and an ambivalent lover in a live-in relationship. Her articles then changed lives. Her memoir reminds us that the past is, indeed, another country, from which so many of us are refugees.
AMAZON REVIEWS
“I loved your book, The View From Third Street, especially because I was there… Your detail is stunning. It was like being back there…The book transported me back, and your personal thread held it together.”
—A journalist who covered the Harrisburg Seven Trial and experienced the flood
“Even for those of whose who lived through the tumultuous period of anti-war movement of the early 70’s, there is so much we don’t know. This book, written from the angle of young reporter at an independent newspaper in Harrisburg, PA during the trial of the Berrigan brothers, presents a fascinating viewpoint and story of these historic events. Written from a journalistic point of view, it presents a factual and exciting way of seeing these days in Harrisburg.”
–Anonymous reviewer on Amazon
What happens when a naïve girl from Albany goes to Cornell in the turbulent 60s and becomes a reluctant activist? THE VIEW FROM THIRD STREET continues the story Harris told in ITHACA DIARIES in engaging detail–her transition from a student into a fledgling career in journalism. Harris can write and tell good story. Her searches for love and meaning provide a delightful reminder for those of us who were on the cusp of womanhood in the age of early feminism. Helping found the alternative newspaper HARRISBURG INDEPENDENT PRESS, she covered the trial of the Harrisburg 7 (or 8) including one of the Berrigan brothers, and the book culminates with the horrific Hurricane Agnes flood that devastated Harrisburg just 50 years ago. The memoir is both timely and timeless.
—-Anonymous reviewer on Amazon
The view from Third Street is that of the young journalists who founded the weekly alternative newspaper, the Harrisburg Independent Press, in 1971. The recorder/narrator is Anita M. Harris, or Ani, as she calls herself. She sustains the reader’s attention by cleverly intertwining historical background, political events and opinions of the day, her own able reporting on the social inequities that beset Harrisburg at the time, her own personal interaction with the other reporters, particularly the man with whom she cohabits, and her response to the burgeoning feminist movement. She recalls for the reader names of political and social figures so meaningful to anyone who lived in the 70’s. The fascinating details are a credit to her memory and research. The depiction of the the trial of the Harrisburg 7 and the 1972 flood in Harrisburg are the focal points of the book, but all the incidents Ani covers are enthralling.
—-Karen Tipper
If you ever imagined how difficult it would be to start an independent newspaper before computers, cell phones and other technology, this is the book for you! Ms. Harris shares the struggles and successes involved in bringing “The Harrisburg Independent Press” to the community living in the state capital of Pennsylvania during the Harrisburg 7 trial. Those who lived here during this time will remember the names and places mentioned in the book as the trial progressed,amid the backdrop of the anti Vietnam War movement throughout the U.S. Thank you, Ms. Harris , for capturing this era in such an engaging manner!
—-Refster
Channing
I found The View From Third Street to be a powerful account of the author’s foray into the world of journalism as a cub reporter on The Harrisburg Independent Press. HIP may have been small, brash and wet behind the ears, but it was dedicated to telling the truth, and Ms. Harris recounts with humor and sensitivity how she, as Ani, played her part to help focus attention on local news with national implications. It’s a great read and an instructive one given the events of today!
An engrossing memoir of youth and activism
The View From Third Street by Anita Harris is an engrossing book that is both personal and political. It alternates between a coming of age story and documentation of the social upheaval and political events happening in this country during the late 1960’s and 70’s. It is a lively book well worth reading and pondering over.
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2022
I loved this book. Written with exquisite detail, the book chronicles the time during the early 1970s in Harrisburg, PA, that saw both the Harrisburg 7 trial (Berrigan, etc.) and the massive flood of the Susquehanna River after Hurricane Agnes. Told through the eyes of this reporter, it was like being there. I confess that I was there during that time, so it brought back so many memories. The personal thread throughout the book held the story together beautifully..
An engaging and thought-provoking account of a uniquely relevant time in our history.Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2022
I enjoyed reading this so much! Such a vivid portrayal of a unique time in our history with so many parallels to the United States of today. The Trial of the Harrisburg Seven was something I knew very little about and I was so glad to learn more about that important event. Ani, the author’s younger self, is an engaging protagonist and the Harrisburg of the early 1970’s really comes to life in the detailed writing. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of the cartoons and content from the actual HIP- so fascinating to see!
An Uncommon Memoir Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2022
After reading Ithaca Diaries, I looked forward to reading Anita Harris’s next work. The View from Third Street did not disappoint. It brought back memories of activism in our country during the early 1970’s and the trials of anti-war activists. I found the writing style – third person, present tense — effective. Reading was easy and comfortable. I enjoyed the description of her younger self’s interactions and conversations with co-workers, friends and her live-in boyfriend. And I particularly enjoyed the personal observations in some of her parenthetical asides.
Fascinating and well-written memoir
What happens when a naïve girl from Albany goes to Cornell in the turbulent 60s and becomes a reluctant activist? THE VIEW FROM THIRD STREET continues the story Harris told in ITHACA DIARIES in engaging detail–her transition from a student into a fledgling career in journalism. Harris can write and tell good story. Her searches for love and meaning provide a delightful reminder for those of us who were on the cusp of womanhood in the age of early feminism. Helping found the alternative newspaper HARRISBURG INDEPENDENT PRESS, she covered the trial of the Harrisburg 7 (or 8) including the Berrigan brothers, and the book culminates with the horrific Hurricane Agnes flood that devastated Harrisburg just 50 years ago. The memoir is both timely and timeless.
