![Barbara [Sanford] Rahder](/uploads/1/5/0/6/150602435/published/authorname.png?1724439689)
About the book Out of Sight
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What was it like to be in the midst of the counterculture movement as a white teen girl with a critical eye? Out of Sight! is Barbara Sanford Rahder’s memoir, a coming-of-age story set in the iconic time and place of 1960s San Francisco. At sixteen, Barbara moved into her sister’s one-bedroom apartment in Haight-Ashbury and was quickly drawn into hippie life: dancing in the street, smoking pot, striking to expose racism in college, marching with thousands to protest the Vietnam war, joining a commune, living on a precarious houseboat. But there was a shadow side as well—sexism, racism, abuse, incarceration, and police brutality. Many of the changes of the era came with an underbelly of power, privilege, and violence that was hidden from view or forgotten.
Out of Sight! weaves one young woman’s experience during a transformative time with unflinching observations on gender, race, and power. Sad, funny, painful, and always very real, Barbara’s story brings a new, critical perspective to the hippie era. And throughout it all ripples an undercurrent of disturbing family tensions. Things that are hidden “out of sight” are not easily confronted, but secrets have a way of surfacing. |
Comments & Reviews
"This era and its concerns have been well-covered, particularly in the memoir genre, but Rahder has a better claim to it than most. Always within a few blocks of the beating heart of the scene, she eschews self-mythologizing in favor of thoughtful vignettes and succeeds in turning many hippie cliches back into fresh moments of truth." A revitalizing look back at the Haight’s hippie era."
─Kirkus Reviews
"Congrats to Barbara Rahder! A few favorite things about the book:
⭐️ The immersive details that give you the feel of San Francisco during the tumultuous late ‘60s and early ‘70s
⭐️ The classic coming-of-age story about a young woman trying to find her way, especially in a world rapidly changing around her
⭐️ Close-up encounters with famous figures like Angela Davis
San Francisco folks will especially enjoy this one."
─Kristen Tate, Blue Garret, San Francisco
"A story of quiet courage that rises to a roar. Brava Barbara"
─Ann Marie Wierzbicki, Sault St. Marie
"With a sprinkling of famous cameos, this memoir dives into the adolescent mind of a regular woman trying to find her way in an ever-evolving world. Barbara's story was funny and eye-opening, but also painful and heartbreaking. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a great memoir to add to their reading collection!"
--Molly, letmollyread, Instagram book reviewer
"Liz and I met you on 'the Canadian' ... She gifted your book and while reading is not the easiest, I finished your courageous story. Thank you."
--John, Oregon
"How does Rahder’s stark critique of 1970s countercultural idealism upend the nostalgic myth of the 'hippie” as inherently progressive, and what does it reveal about the ways that gendered and racial power structures persisted—and even thrived—within that very movement?"
--This is apparently spam from Moscow! Still good questions.
