When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution
by Jeanne Córdova
Spinsters Ink. 456 pages, $14.95
REMEMBER the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst by a group of self-styled revolutionaries, the Symbionese Liberation Army? Remember the music of Olivia Records, the all-woman recording company of the 1970’s that launched a new generation of lesbian singer-songwriters such as Meg Christian, Margie Adam, and Lucie Blue Tremblay? Jeanne Córdova was a young journalist and political activist in Los Angeles at the time, and she’s written a gripping account of her experiences. As human rights editor of “the Freep” (The L.A. Free Press) and founder of The Lesbian Tide (1971–1980), Córdova covered the major political and cultural events of this era. These in turn form the background for a dramatic lesbian love affair. Each chapter of this thick book has a “dateline” in 1974 or 1975, but the entire narrative reads like a novel.
