Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Navigating the Zeitgeist by Helena Sheehan
Engagingly frank autobiography from left Irish-American activist and academic

BORN into a typical all-American and socially conservative family of Irish Catholic origin, it’s fair to say that Helena Sheehan’s eventual immersion in left politics would probably have come as much of a shock to her as it did to her immediate family.

After a short time in a convent and a period spent teaching in a deprived inner-city Detroit neighbourhood, Sheehan was increasingly drawn towards what was to become a lifelong commitment to the study of philosophy, combined with political engagement.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
FELLOW TRAVELLERS: Susan Sherman and Margaret Randall in Havana, Cuba 1968 / Pic: Ovaryian/CC
Books / 25 May 2025
25 May 2025

STEVEN ANDREW is ultimately disappointed by a memoir that is far from memorable

MILESTONE: Lenin among supporters in Moscow celebrates the s
BOOKS / 27 January 2021
27 January 2021
Original and inspirational thoughts on man who changed the world
BOOKS / 24 July 2020
24 July 2020
Choice compendium of countercultural currents
HIPSTER-FRIENDLY: Generation Identity
BOOKS / 4 March 2020
4 March 2020
Establishment perspective provides few answers to growing threat of far-right extremism
Similar stories
MURDER AFORETHOUGHT: The execution of 56 Poles in Bochnia, n
Books / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII
MASTERMIND; (L) Jon Pertwee as Dr Who in Invasion of the Din
Books / 13 March 2025
13 March 2025
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
Aboubakar Traore
Global Routes / 2 December 2024
2 December 2024
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs
(L) A resident of Burnthouse Lane estate; (R) Derek, a homel
Books / 6 August 2024
6 August 2024
JOHN GREEN appreciates two photobooks that study the single room of a homeless hostel resident, and a council estate in Exeter