Gary Gilmore, an inmate on death row in Utah, inspired a great deal of interest from the literary left, oddly enough, when he told prison authorities that he deserved to die for his crimes and wanted to be executed as soon as possible. Eldridge Cleaver, a former Black Panther and ex-convict from California, wrote a book called Soul on Ice (1968), which became popular on America's college campuses. And if a convict could write, that was even better. During this era, even prison inmates became a cause celebre. They wrote magazine articles, newspaper stories, hit songs and in some cases, even published books. "Radical chic" promoters appeared on TV and radio talk shows. The right side of the political spectrum, which contained the Aryan groups, the white supremacists and war hawks, was perceived to be outside of that specialized arena. Extremists, especially those on the far left, were frequently glamorized in the press. During the late 1970s and early 1980s it became fashionable in some places to delve into the more radical aspects of American politics.
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