[5][2][8] She was an SDS activist as well as a reporter for Ramparts, and in July 1969, she visited Cuba as part of a group of journalists, including Peter Jennings, and met with Fidel Castro.
[2][3] With Carol Brightman, Levinson co-edited the 1971 book Venceremos Brigade: Young Americans Sharing the Life and Work of Revolutionary Cuba, a collection of writings by a group of volunteers from the United States who cut sugarcane in Cuba, known as the Venceremos Brigade; according to Kirkus Reviews, "Running through all the narratives is the preoccupation with the need to be relevant to 'the revolution' as well as a conscientious emphasis on eradicating vestiges of their own bourgeois individualism".
In May 1972, Levinson co-founded the Center for Cuban Studies (CCS) as a nonprofit educational organization with Saul Landau and Lee Lockwood.
[15] In 1984, Levinson spoke with the Wall Street Journal about the impact of the embargo on the Cuban economy, stating, "The old cars are the most obvious sign.
[21] In 1991, Levinson was a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee against the United States Treasury Department and Office of Foreign Assets Control, which led to the lifting of restrictions on the importation of Cuban art.