Bill Ayers was born into privilege and is today a highly respected educator and community activist. In the late 1960s he was a founder of the militant activist group the Weather Underground. Living on the run, stealing explosives, and hiding from the law, Ayers was involved in the defining moments of his generation: the Days of Rage, SDS, the Black Panthers-and the explosion that killed his beloved comrade, Diana Oughton. Fugitive Days tells of these turbulent events, and of the tenacity with which Ayers slowly rebuilt his life after it all came apart. Ayers writes openly about his regrets and what he continues to believe was right. The result is a profoundly honest account of an incendiary chapter in our history.

Ayers helped found the Weather Underground in the late 1960s in response to the horror of the Vietnam War. He recounts a decade of living as a fugitive, stealing explosives, hiding from the law, and losing his beloved Diana Oughton in an explosion. The 2001 edition was published by Beacon Press.
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"A wild and painful ride in the savage years of the late sixties. A very good book about a terrifying time in America." Hunter S. Thompson

"Ayers' powerful, morally charged account of a life and a society in the political balance is provocative reading." Chicago Tribune

"Written without self-righteousness or apology, this memoir rings of hard-learned truth and integrity and is an important contribution to literature on 1960s culture and American radicalism." Publishers Weekly

The highly respected educator and community activist tells of his days in the late 1960s when he founded the militant activist group the Weather Underground, and his involvement in the defining moments of his generation.

Bill Ayers, author of A Kind and Just Parent and many other books on education, is Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and director of the Center for Youth and Society.