Gringo, THE MAKING OF A REBEL reminds us how far our civilization, depending on the reader's viewpoint, has advanced or declined in the past 70 years. At the end of his freshman year in high school, young Emil hitchhiked from his home in the Bronx to the 1938 Chicago World's Fair. He made it safely both ways, although not without plenty of tribulations. It was the start of a career that spanned not only decades, but also a number of occupations and continents.

The child of Austrian immigrants, he was an anti-war radical while in high school. Black Mountain College in the mountains of western North Carolina was his next destination. Black Mountain was an "experimental school with emphasis on fine arts and progressive education." Graduating in 1940, he became a labor organizer for the CIO in the South. In spite of his high school anti-war stance, he joined the Army and landed on Omaha Beach less than a month after D-Day. Before his time in Europe was done, he had fought his way into Germany, been decorated, and found his mother's family in Austria.

After the war he became involved in the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.

There he took pictures and made films of the struggling civil rights movement. Later he moved to Peru where he made more films. This book was written from his retirement home in Knox County, Maine. Unfortunately it was not published until after his death in July 2003, and we are all the poorer for that fact. This was an individual with whom you would want to spend some time. Fortunately you can do it through his book. Alas, he planned on covering much of his later life in a second volume.

There is one overriding characteristic to Willimetz's personality that shines on every page of Gringo, THE MAKING OF A REBEL. He was a passionate man of principle. Whether as a labor organizer, a photographer or a filmmaker, he often put himself in dangerous circumstances while working for those who were powerless by themselves. Readers of this book will be reminded of the many good reasons for the formation of labor unions. Likewise, you will be reminded of the dichotomy of opportunities in the Jim Crow South.

The chapters about his World War II experiences will grip the reader. You can hear the whine of bullets overhead and the concussion of artillery shells. He makes palpable the bitter cold of the winter of 1944. His passion leads him to plunge into one interesting experience after another in this worthwhile book.