CONVICTION

Conviction is the story of one woman’s journey from a working-class town in central California through some of the most significant struggles for radical change in the last third of the twentieth century. 

Confronted with intense criticisms of U.S. imperialism while traveling in Europe as a student, C. K. Gallagher enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley and participated in the battle for ethnic studies programs, became an ally of the Black Panther Party, and spent three years as a political prisoner at the California Institution for Women. She takes the reader with her inside Cuba and China, where she experiences different models of socialism; the auto industry, as a member of the United Auto Workers union; and the public schools, where she spent twenty years as a dedicated teacher.

Conviction reflects a life lived in significant times and inspires hope for a new generation of activists.