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Standin’ in a Hard Rain

Standin' in a Hard Rain: Lessons from the Last Revolution: The Making of a Revolutionary Life By Joel Eis

World BEYOND War is proud to be publishing this important, delightful, inciteful, and provocative new memoir by Joel Eis. 

He became  one of the people his parents warned him against!

… He was followed and informed on. His phone was tapped. He was shot at, did some time in jail, and was black listed from work. The last time he saw his FBI file, it was as thick as a small city phone book.

Standin’ in a Hard Rain, the Making of a Revolutionary Life is the fast-paced, personal, “boots-on-the-ground,” front line account of major events by a dedicated radical in the 1960’s (and beyond) who found himself at the table with the planners and out in the street, running from the cops. 

It traces the difficult evolution of a generation trying to stay true to their values  in a country in which they felt at odds. It ends with the burning of his draft card at the age of 73.  

Includes 85 documents and photos.

979-8-218-11060-4 ISBN paperback.

Bookstores can order from Ingram.

“Joel Eis’ memoir is an amazing story. Somehow, he happened to be in the right place at the right time in the sixties. It’s the story of a left wing Forrest Gump, only it’s real!”
Will Durst
Will DurstNationally acclaimed comedian, Author Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle
“I was spellbound by Joel Eis' Standin' in a Hard Rain from the start. Eis tells his story of what it was like to be an anti-war activist in California's Central Valley in the late 60's and early 70's. Eis makes the reader feel like they are there. 50 years later I remain in the struggle for social and economic justice, and appreciative of how this book reclaims our history for the waves of activists to come.”
Mike Rhodes
Mike RhodesLife-time activist, author Editorial board, Community Alliance Newspaper, Fresno, CA
“Joel Eis’s Memoir is great to read. It’s a great history lesson. He’s an immediate new literary friend!”
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote Actor, author, Narrator, Ken Burns film on the Vietnam War
“Joel Eis’s STANDIN’ IN A HARD RAIN, The Making of a Revolutionary Life is a useful and compelling read as the nation once again tries to find its bearings.”
David Harris
David HarrisOrganizer, National Draft Resistance during the Vietnam War, Federal prisoner for refusing the draft, 12-time book author, Correspondent, NY Times, Rolling Stone Magazine
"Standin' in a Hard Rain is a clear-eyed, passionate account of how your generation became activists. This fast-moving memoir shows ordinary people standing up for what’s right!”
Tom Wallace
Tom WallaceFormer Senior Editor, Simon and Shuster, CEO, Wallace Literary Agency, NYC.
“Joel Eis’, Standin’ in a Hard Rain reminds us of the energy and times back in the day. Eis’ book and life of activism in the arts illustrates how ‘history is personal.’ It shares a captivating tale. It’s an enjoyable page-turner, a personal view into life as a radical in the 60’s and since."
Laurel Krause
Laurel KrauseSister of Allison Krause, Murdered by the National Guard at Kent State, May 4, 1970
“Joel Eis supplies authentic history, personal and political, with rigorous candor and valuable insights in “Standin’ in a Hard Rain,” a memoir that provides concentric narratives of individual and social evolution during the pivotal decades from the 1960’s forward. By writing from firsthand experience, Eis shares human dimensions that go deeply beneath the clichés and myths. The result is a book resonating with vitality.”
Norman Solomon
Norman SolomonFounder, Institute for Public Accuracy. Author of, War Made Easy, and Made Love, Got War.
“Standin' in a Hard Rain is an important book in an age where dissent and justice itself has been given a bad name. Eis writes the funny, human tale of a nice Jewish boy who comes of age in the 1960's, the most turbulent decade in America since the Civil War. He picks up the gauntlet and makes their causes his own. Eis talks about revolution, not in grand abstractions, but in details of everyday life. Eis' rich detailed stories demand that you pay attention, and that you choose a side, before we all lose the right to choose for good.”
Gerald Nicosia
Gerald NicosiaAuthor, Home to War, the History of the Veteran’s Anti-War Movement and Memory Babe, (definitive Bio of Jack Kerouac.)
"Standin’ in a Hard Rain is an account of the life of an anti-war organizer during that time. It’s spot on. Mr. Eis’ book was entertaining and fun to read. It may serve as a guidebook to young people who are seeking progressive change. It’s an entertaining and informative read.”
Paul Dunham
Paul DunhamDraft Resistance leader 1968-1971. Incarcerated, Lompoc Federal Prison for refusing induction
“Joel Eis’ memoir, Standin’ in a Hard Rain, is of particular interest to me. He captures the social and political divide of America’s involvement in the undeclared War in Vietnam. As a Vietnam veteran and a gay man, I felt the ambiguous urgency in both the tone and content of Eis’ writings. He conveys the angst of a young generation. Joel Eis’ book speaks to the public’s disgust at the more than 50,000+ war deaths a war that the military knew we couldn’t win."
Joseph Zaccardi
Joseph ZaccardiVietnam War Veteran, United States Navy Poet laureate of Marin County, CA (2013-2015)
“Standin’ in a Hard Rain is a total trip through the last half of the 20th century. I know because I was there. You’re inside the Civil Rights movement with Black Power figures such as Eldridge Cleaver and Angela Davis, on stage (and back stage) with the radical theater companies, in the street and in the back room meetings with the Anti-war movement. It’s a good slice of history well served.”
Doug Rippey
Doug RippeyFormer draft resister, Vietnam Antiwar Movement
Joel Eis’s remarkable memoir Standin’ in a Hard Rain, the Making of a Revolutionary Life, answers the question “How—and why—did a boy from suburbia become a committed radical? Eis does not lecture or grandstand but he does share with the reader the price of their decisions if they choose to get involved. Standin’ in a Hard Rain offers today’s young generation important insight to their own struggles unfolding in the streets of America today. Eis passes the torch to the next generation. He’s not only rooting for you. He’s counting on you."
Rosa del Duca
Rosa del DucaArmy National Guard Veteran (Iraq/Afghanistan War period) Author, Breaking Cadence One Woman’s War Against the War (Ooligan Press, 2019, Winner, NYC Book Award for Memoir)
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Where to Get It

Standin' in a Hard Rain, The Making of a Revolutionary Life: Lessons from the Last Revolution …
Eis , Joel , D

Buy the paperback from your local bookstore. Or buy a signed copy or bulk copies at a discount from the author’s own bookstore:

Rebound Bookstore in San Rafael, California.

Contact Joel Eis at wanderfoot@aol.com

Or buy it from Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble.

Buy the PDF from World BEYOND War here.

Buy the ePub from World BEYOND War here.

Buy the eBook from Barnes & Noble.

Buy the kindle from Amazon.

About Joel Eis

I was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Fresno, California. Beginning life as “red diaper” baby in a pro-labor Jewish household. My parents refused to cross picket lines. At age eight, I played in my communist uncle’s back yard with Carl Bernstein. From my college days on, I seemed to be in the right place at the right time to be on the front lines of some of the major events of the 1960’s. Student strikes, draft resistance, the Grape strike in California. I even helped get Eldridge Cleaver out of the country away from the FBI. I worked in important radical theatre companies for progressive change. This put me in front of the crowd but it also increased the surveillance on my activities. I was not afraid to be one of the people our parents warned us against. I was followed and informed on. My phone was tapped. I was shot at and I did some time in jail. The last time I saw my FBI file it was as thick as a small city phone book. After a career as a professional theatre designer and professor, my wife Toni and I own and run a small bookstore north of San Francisco. We use the space for workshops and public events. I talk politics with my customers all day. Visit my website at http://JoelEis.com

  • 2004 A Full Investigation of the Historic Performance of the First Play in English in the New World, Ye Bare and Ye Cubbe, 1665 (Lewiston: NY, Edwin Mellen Press)
  • 2014 The Function of the Ekkyklema in Greek Theatre, Edwin Mellen Press
  • 2021 The First Play in English in America and its Contribution to the First Amendment. Edwin Mellen Press
  • 2017 Way Out West, Ross Valley player, Ross Valley, CA
  • 2012 The Play in August, University of Maryland, Salisbury, MD
  • 2008 Fire in My Hands, Western Regional Playwrights Symposium, Denver Co
  • 2007 Like Trains in the Night, Denver Actors Theatre, Denver Co 1996 Hamlet -or- The Great Mechanical (revision of Shakespeare’s Hamlet) New Company, SOMAR Theatre, S.F. CA
  • 1995 Ubu! The Musical! The New Company, Brave New World Cabaret1994 “All the Right Moves” The New Company; Laval’s Subterranean, Berkeley. CA1994 Ceremonies, The New Company Potrero Hill Theatre, S F, CA.

Join the Author for an Online Book Club

In May 2023, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of the book “Standin’ in a Hard Rain” with the author Joel Eis as part of a small group WBW book club limited to a group of 18 participants. Joel will send each participant a signed hardcopy of the book or an electronic copy (your choice). We’ll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions. Learn more and reserve your spot here.

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