Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture

Roberta Price's book captures the moral fervor, the enormous amount of work, the sexual explorations, and the personal growth curve of one very smart, very attractive, highly educated woman who "threw it all away" (as her parents might have said) to found an alternative community in the mountains of Colorado. I knew her then and now, knew the community and lived in one like it myself. The tone, the details are compelling and true, filled me with pride, and sympathy (and a couple of shared winces.) This is a very very good book and deserves a wide audience. Peter Coyote, actor/author, Sleeping Where I Fall

I found Huerfano to be a terrifically engaging book. The author, Roberta Price, describes hippie life in a commune in Southern Colorado in the sixties and seventies with a clear, firm and captivating voice. As one who grew up in those times but did not experience commune life or that part of the counterculture, I was struck by how Price drew me into a true "feel" for life in that particular commune at that particular time. Through Price, the reader sees how commune life affected growth of the residents, their connections and relationships, their views of the immediate and extended life around them. Price shares with us her perceptions of how her own marriage at first grew stronger but then ultimately dissolved. If you lived through this era, you should read this book to see the world you lived in through a different lense. If you did not live through this era, this book will introduce you to a unique experience.

A vivid and engaging chronicle about commune life and counterculture in the sixties and early seventies. It's also an intimate coming-of-age story replete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, an idyllic landscape and the comedy and tragedy of life unfolding. I am a baby boomer, but not quite old enough to have been active in the political and social scenes Ms. Price describes. I enjoyed reading her insider's account of the environment and attitudes that inspired many to challenge the American status quo in ways that continue to resonate: anti-war activism, sexual liberation, creative expression and the search for community, interdependence and simpler living. The story is told with admirable honesty and clarity. Many of the recollections are intensely private yet also beautifully illustrative of life in that time. I've always wished I could have been part of the experience. Huerfano allows me to imagine that I was.

The war is grinding to a stand-off, the country is polarized, the caskets of young men are lining up in neat rows at Andrews Air Force Base, many of the young are apathetic. The year is 2005. Guess again, it's 1970 when two eastern establishment college kids gain post graduate grants to study the Hippys and to their surprise are soon building a house on a commune. Libre `The Last Resort' where the members have eschewed connivance shopping, credit, insurance and central heating for a life of peace and `voluntary poverty' high in the mountains of southern Colorado. Roberta Price has woven a true tale in excellent and lucid prose. The statement `if you remember the sixty's you weren't there' does not apply here. She remembers it well. At the start I was not going to mention the fact that I was a member of that commune, however in the end I must, in order to put my stamp of approval on the authenticity of the book. She has a terrific memory of the love, the hate, the life, the death, the work, and the beauty of life in the counterculture. In an age when college kids are more preoccupied with their YK-2 status than their F-4 (draft) status, the book is a refreshing peek into the past. If you are an old Hippy I defy you to keep the pages of this volume un-tear stained.

From my perspective as a currently middle-aged member of the California Bar, the best aspects of Huerfano are the extremely vivid depictions of the early 1970's life experience, coupled with a very steady [but inconspicuous] editorial hand that keeps the narrative flowing. It flows both chronologically as far as the author's involvement in the back to the land experience, and substantively as far as calling up the most important issues like self-imposed material deprivation; the joys of natural surroundings; the ups and downs of cooperative living; bending the boundaries of family and friends. The illustrations are enjoyable, but the quality of writing is what really distinguishes this book. The author is very clear and direct about identifying the sometimes awkward and unprecedented choices she faced, and writes in a manner that invites the reader to empathize with the choices. I really recommend this book for anyone who once had and/or still has a curiosity about stepping off the beaten track.