Kammala jumla mai zuwa: An haifi MacFadyen Gavin Hall Galter a ranar 1 ga Janairu, 1940, a Greeley a Colorado, kuma ya girma a Chicago. Mahaifiyarsa 'yar wasan piano ce. Ya ɗauki sunan mahaifinsa, mai bincike na likita. Ya yi karatu a Kwalejin Shimer daga 1958 zuwa 1959, kuma daga baya ya yi aiki a matsayin mai shirya ƙungiya tare da ƙungiyoyin kwadago. An daure shi ne saboda shiga zanga-zangar kare hakkin jama'a. Ya koma Ingila, ya shiga Socialists na Duniya (wanda daga baya ya zama Socialist Workers Party (UK)), kuma ya kammala karatu daga Makarantar Fim ta London (yanzu Makarantar Fim ta London). Ya kafa ƙungiyar fina-finai na fim don yin tarihin rikice-rikicen siyasa a Amurka a ƙarshen shekarun 1960 don BBC. Ya rufe zanga-zangar adawa da yakin Vietnam, rikicin launin fata da kuma rikici da 'yan sanda da masu zanga-zanga a
Taron kasa na jam'iyyar Democrat a Chicago a 1968, inda dubun dubatar masu zanga-zangar yaƙin Vietnam suka yi yaƙi da 'yan sanda a kan tituna, yayin da Jam'iyyar Democrat ta rabu da rashin jituwa na ciki game da matsayinta game da Vietnam. Ya ci gaba da bayar da rahoto daga juyin juya halin Nicaragua, yaƙi tsakanin Contra na dama da Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front a cikin 1980s, da Iran-Contra, tashin hankali na Nazi, Watergate, tarihin CIA.