Making Do

The main character is a bisexual, tired, brilliant, rather heroic anti-hero, most of whose actions tear down his manhood while making him a better man. The nameless narrator does many of the things Goodman is famous for: he participates in college conferences on how to better the country; has a monthly WBAI-type radio program; wants to ban private cars in Manhattan; gets involved in peace demonstrations; hates cops; associates with juvenile Porto Ricans, addicts, pushers, pregnant teen-age girls, and talks like a low-life Plato while berating city officials and the middle classes. The story, briefly, concerns his bisexual friendship with a twenty year old college drop-out who is a borderline schizophrenic who attempts to build a "community" of young anarchists but this personal community explodes when its teen-age members blow it up with murder, drugs and theft.