The Man Next Door

Book excerpt: In those days, it was easy to join the revolution. You could sign up on any street corner where you could also find like-minded children with similar weird hair and clothes. I had been in the streets a lot that year, marching for this and shouting slogans against that. The future would sort itself out, as simple as breathing. In 1966, when I was fifteen years old, I saw Leonard Cohen sing The Stranger Song on Canadian television. Not long afterwards, I took the subway downtown and bought a book of his poetry. Magic was afoot.