1968: The Year That Rocked the World

published	January 11th 2005 by Random House Trade Paperbacks
binding	Paperback
isbn	0345455827 (isbn13: 9780345455826)
pages	480
description	Given its broad and vibrant subject, it would be quite difficult for a writer of any proficiency to pen a boring book on 1968, and Mark Kurlansky has ...more [close] Given its broad and vibrant subject, it would be quite difficult for a writer of any proficiency to pen a boring book on 1968, and Mark Kurlansky has indeed pulled together an entertaining and enlightening popular history with 1968: The Year That Rocked the World. With the Vietnam War and Soviet repression providing sparkplugs in the East and West, student movements heated up in Berkeley, Prague, Mexico City, Paris, and dozens of other hotspots. With youth in ascendancy, music, film, and athletics became generational battlegrounds between opposition forces that couldn't be more appalled with one another. Not so fortuitously, the Summer Olympics in Mexico City and a presidential election in the United States conspired to elevate the tension higher as months passed. Kurlansky is skilled at concisely capturing the personalities behind the conflicts, whether they be heartbroken Czech leader Alexander Dubcek as Eastern Bloc troops violently suppress his nation's uprising or respected veteran newsman Walter Cronkite reluctantly editorializing against the war in Vietnam. The author is more than willing to choose heroes (the doomed Robert Kennedy) and villains (victorious presidential candidate Richard Nixon), and clearly sides with the rebels in most cases. In general, Kurlansky is more adept at covering the political front than he is the equally revolutionary arts world, and it's apparent that any chapter in this book could be expanded into a book of its own. One's expectation is that captivated readers will view 1968 as a portal into a deeper exploration of a fascinating time. --Steven Stolder [close]
date added	11-12-06 edit book

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Pilouetta rated it:

04/21/08

Read in April, 2008

for this review, i will make lists informed by kurlansky's volumnous research. this book contains comprehensive end notes, a hearty bibliography and a thorough index - three things i really like! 1968, year of the revolution, baby.

kurlansky writes that 1968 was the year that "impossible things seemed possible," he then quotes a slogan taken from a wall in paris: BE REALISTIC, ASK FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE. this was the year that revolution seemed tangible and all over the world students ...more for this review, i will make lists informed by kurlansky's volumnous research. this book contains comprehensive end notes, a hearty bibliography and a thorough index - three things i really like! 1968, year of the revolution, baby.

kurlansky writes that 1968 was the year that "impossible things seemed possible," he then quotes a slogan taken from a wall in paris: BE REALISTIC, ASK FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE. this was the year that revolution seemed tangible and all over the world students and workers were protesting. an incomplete list would include: poland's warsaw, poznan, lodz & cracow; ecuador; prague, czechoslovakia; rio de janeiro, brazil; cairo, egypt; spain; berlin; italy's rome, genoa & sicily; buenos aires & montevideo, argentina; mexico city & villahermosa; england; uruguay; united states; and chile.

students siezed buildings at the universite of nanterre & the sorbonne in paris; columbia in new york city; the nationl polytechnic institute and the autonomous national university of mexico; san francisco state; the hornsey college of art & design and birmingham college of art in england starting a nationwide protest of art students. worldwide leroi jones' words, "up against the wall, motherfucker," were screamed at the academic establishment and police enlisted to maintain institutional order.

still active were american radical groups like MOBE (national mobilization committee to end the war in vietnam), SNCC (student nonviolent coordinating committee, SDS (students for a democratic society), FSM (free speech movement), the black panthers, NOW (national organization for women), the feminist jeanette rankin brigade, japan's zengakuren, france's JCR (la jeunesse communiste revolutionnaire), mexico city's CNH (national strike council), and 1968 marked the year the basque's ETA (euskadi ta askatasuna) became violent versus merely cultural. new radical and social movements included germany's SDS (sozialistische deutsche studentenbund), tariq ali's newspaper "black dwarf" and his VSC organization (vietnam solidarity campaign) in england, france's le mouvement du 22 mars, and the new york radical women protested the miss america pageant in atlantic city.

in 1968 yippie! and black (versus negro) entered american vernacular. palestinian became a national identity and not just a radical military organization like the PLO. it was eldridge cleaver's most influential year and marked the publication of "soul on ice." the soviets invaded cxechoslovakia. police used violence and extreme force at the chicago democratic national convention following the authority of mayor daley. there were wars being fought in vietnam, haiti, by the biafran in nigeria, and there was continued armed conflict in israel and the surrounding arab states.

1968 marked the year the first woman bought a seat on the new york stock exchange and saw the first woman ever light the olympic torch in mexico city. shirley chisholm was the first black woman elected to the US house of representatives.

politically, american parties saw a major shift and 1968 was the year the republicans won the white southern vote having been angered by kennedy and johnson's civil rights legislation. this new republican strategy emphasized "state's rights" to counter new federal law. kurlansky states: "the republicans get the racist vote and the democrats get the black vote, and it turns out in america there are more racist votes than black ones." timely words?

in 1968 14,589 american soldiers died in vietnam. it was the last war in which america would count enemy combatants wounded and dead.

1968 changed a lot of things about the world. it changed the way media was used to report armed conflict, and helped to shape a politician that was less about ideals and more about style and presentation. the military changed its selective service procedures and moved to an all-voluntary organization forming its ranks from the working classes. 1968 was the year the first telecommuncations satellite was launched into orbit, and since then we have moved from a world of action to one of information. in 2008 we may have a world where everything is possible, but no longer one the youth and working people feel is worth street-fighting for.

TO BE FREE IN 1968 IS TO TAKE PART
- from a stairwell in the school of science politique, paris, may 1968....less

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