Strawberry Fields is one of the most visited spots in Central Park and one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City. This keepsake volume is a celebration of the 2.5-acre teardrop-shaped living memorial to John Lennon's life and work. The year 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of its dedication, as well as what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday. Located in the park directly across the street from the Dakota, the building where John and Yoko lived for several years before his untimely death, Strawberry Fields was originally conceived as a 'peace garden.' Yoko invited the entire world to donate trees, shrubs, and stones to fill this parcel of land, and today, the garden flourishes with contributions from 121 countries. 

A rich and lively patchwork of text and imagery will tell the story of John and Yoko's love affair with the park and of the creation of this unique corner of the park through an unprecedented collaborative effort between Yoko Ono, the Central Park Conservancy, and city officials.

“In Charles Haynie's autobiography we get a rare look into the development of a great social movement through the quietly dramatic experiences of a rank-and-file member of that movement. This is valuable social history, but more important, Charles Haynie's life is an inspiration for a new generation.” —Howard Zinn

Charles Haynie's life as an activist and organizer began while he was a graduate student at Cornell University. Young, fiercely intelligent, and spirited, Haynie had a political awakening during the early antinuclear movement in the late 1950s. It was the beginning of a long career of tireless fighting for social justice—a career that Haynie himself compellingly describes in A Memoir of the New Left.

From 1963 to 1965, Haynie was field director for a voter registration project in Tennessee. In 1967 he worked with Massachusetts Political Action for Peace as an organizer of antiwar delegations in all twelve congressional districts of the state. Haynie also ran for a Buffalo Common Council seat in 1979 and helped organize the Buffalo Unity Day rally to ease racial tensions.

During his most intense period of political activism, Haynie helped organize, participated in, and was arrested during the Freedom Rides in which scores of civil rights protesters rode buses throughout the segregated South. Later, he participated in a variety of intentional communities designed to educate and support oppressed minorities in rural and urban areas. He died in 2001.

Unlike other histories of the American left, which tend to celebrate famous personalities, Haynie's memoir focuses on how ordinary citizens become politicized. In the process, this account raises questions about the nature of democracy and how political change occurs. Written in an engaging, reflective, often humorous style, Haynie examines how his political awakening both disrupted and enriched his personal life.

Aeron Haynie, the daughter of Charles Haynie, is associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. She is the coeditor, with Pamela Gilbert and Marlene Tromp, of Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Context and the coeditor, with Regan Gurung and Nancy Chick, of Exploring Signature Pedagogies.

Timothy S. Miller lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and daughter. He's been a ranch-hand, waiter, contract driver, professional clown and spent ten years in global wealth management.

Douglas Dowd was a longtime professor at Cornell University before his retirement. An economic historian and political activist, his most recent books include Capitalism and Its Economics: A Critical History and Understanding Capitalism: Critical Analysis from Karl Marx to Amatya Sen.