Juli Loesch

True Simplicity [hand-made book from the anti-war / anti-abortion activist]

Self-published, Spring 1972. Sewn-bound in hand-drawn and taped wraps. Offset from manuscript in author’s hand with black-and-white illustrations throughout text One illustration hand-painted, some additions in pen throughout pages. 4 ½ x 7 ½ in. [156] pp. Very good condition, some loss to spine and yellowing to wraps, binding fragile but intact. Inside pages clean. Item #5511

An incredible, unique and profusely illustrated early hand-made counterculture artist’s book and philosophical tract from the anti-abortion / anti-war actvist.

Juli Loesch, also known as Juli or Julianne Wiley, was one of the major voices of the Catholic Left during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Having joined the anti-war and anti-poverty movements in the early 1960s, Loesch had awakening in the 1970s and declared a moral equivalency between abortion and nuclear weapons. From then on, her organizing would focus on the marriage of anti-war and anti-abortion activism.

This volume, written and illustrated by Loesch, was produced immediately following her time in California supporting the United Farm Workers to organize lettuce and grape boycotts and strikes. She went on to co-found the Pax Center in Pennsylvania, a Catholic feminist commune. “True Simplicity” includes scripture, stories, cartoons, and practical information about living communally whilst upholding her convictions and beliefs. Dedicated to the founders of the Catholic Workers Movement and the American Society of Shakers, True Simplicity offers a different kind of intentional community that has nothing to do with the typical hippie activities associated with communal life such as experimenting with drugs and embracing varied sexual identities. Instead, Loesch’s worldview is laid out in these pages, forshadowing her future career as an anti-abortion crusader.

A strange document of a small, austere section of leftist thought during the hippie era.

Unique. No copies located on OCLC as of March 2021.

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