The Lost Daughter: A Memoir

Born in Oakland, CA in 1967 to parents active in the Black Panther party, Williams spent her early childhood in Panther community, attending Panther-run schools. With her father in and out of prison, her mother left the Party, her older sister became a crack addict, and life took a decided downturn. Un-til, that is, Mary's uncle%E2%80%94friends with Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden%E2%80%94intervened. As Williams re-members it, Fonda "threw me a lifeline and I grabbed it." Williams moved into the Fonda-Hayden household attempting to assimilate into a new class existence. Her tumultuous life shuffled her be-tween new-found privilege and occasional returns to "the underworld" of an Oakland life she had out-grown. After graduating from Pitzer College, Williams teaches English in Morocco, works for the CDC in Atlanta, and travels to Tanzania. Upon her return she starts the Lost Boys Foundation, funded by the Fonda Family Foundation, before disbanding it in turmoil. Williams remains unfulfilled until she finally realizes that her desire to help others was her "misdirected desire to save [herself]." Though she can be a difficult and occasionally unsympathetic figure, throughout Williams exposes American class and race tensions, having experienced both the luxury of white privilege and the bleakness of ur-ban poverty. (Apr.)