Assembling My Father

Anna Cypra Olivers strikingly original book offers both a moving story of self-discovery and a vivid record of a turbulent era. In the late 1960s Annas fathera charismatic man from a cultivated Jewish backgroundand her equally urbane mother joined a countercultural enclave in Taos New Mexico. There amid the chaos of hippie life their marriage foundered. Shortly after their breakup Anna''s father comitted suicide. Anna was five years old.. Twenty years later the discovery of some old photographs launched Oliver on an obsessive quest to learn more about her father. She unearthed a forgotten journal home movies even a tape with her father''s voice on it and interviewed all those who knew him. The act of reconstructing a life would not only change her perceptions about her father and the turmoil of her childhood but would ultimately transform her understanding of herself.