All That I'm Asking

A Novel by Ellen Halter

Ellen Halter has a PhD in rhetoric and composition from Wayne State University and has taught composition there and at the University of Toledo. For the past twenty-five years, she has focused on her own fiction, political writing, and poetry. Her poems have appeared in Forage Poetry and the Garfield Lake Review.

Primarily a fiction writer, Halter folds her own experiences into her work. Her debut novel, All That I’m Asking, reflects her New York City upbringing and the political awakening she experienced during the turbulent 1960s.

A month before her 1970 graduation from Oberlin College, the Ohio National Guard fired on student protesters at nearby Kent State University, killing four students and injuring others. Oberlin welcomed survivors to its campus, where Halter witnessed firsthand the aftermath of the violence. The experience deepened her awareness of citizens’ vulnerability in the face of government power and helped shape the activist she remains today.

In All That I’m Asking, Halter bears witness to the decade’s turbulent grand finale through Alice Kaplan, a young woman coming into her own as the country strains toward greater fairness and justice.