From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived it

by Joan Morrison, Robert K. Morrison

No decade in American history continues to fascinate us like the Sixties. No decade combines such hopeful idealism with such violence and disillusionment, or witnesses such profound political, cultural, and personal upheavals. And no decade benefits more from being seen through the eyes of those who experienced firsthand the shocks and revelations that still reverberate today.
Newly revised and updated, with an expanded introduction, From Camelot to Kent State tells the story of ten of the most dramatic years in the life of America-and of fifty-nine men and women who lived through those years. In their own words, civil rights activists, soldiers who fought in Vietnam, anti-war protesters, student radicals, feminists, Peace Corps workers, and many others take us inside the major events and movements of the period. Far from a dispassionate history of the Sixties, these stories bristle with the tension and immediacy of lived experience. How did it feel to wake up into step out of a helicopter into a Vietnamese jungle; to ride south on a freedom bus, to march on the Pentagon; to take over a college administration building; to hear Jimi Hendrix play the national anthem at Woodstock; to attend the first consciousness-raising meetings for women at the Bread and Roses café? This captivating oral history will let you know.
Included are first-hand accounts from both the famous-including Eldridge Cleaver, Abbie Hoffman, Philip Berrigan, and John Lewis-and the ordinary men and women who were swept up in major historical events, From Camelot to Kent State offers a uniquely valuable view of a decade that forever changed the history and consciousness of America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 1987

Reviews

[KOMET]

FROM CAMELOT TO KENT STATE: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It held a special appeal for me, for I am a Baby Boomer who was born a little less than a year after the assassination of President Kennedy. My memories of the 1960s are seen through my mind as short films and vignettes largely centered around family, neighborhood, and school. I have no direct memories of historical events that took place in the part of the decade during which I grew from infancy to early childhood. But for some time, I've had a deep curiosity about the impact the 1960s had on the country and those who were old enough to be fully aware of what was going on in the country and the world beyond in that colorful, challenging decade. And so, when I chanced upon this book, I avidly took to reading it.

The authors interviewed a variety of people from policymakers (e.g. Harris Wofford, who worked for the Kennedy Administration as a Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights), to Vietnam War veterans, a family who lost a son in Vietnam, to people from various walks of life who involved themselves in the Civil Rights Movement and/or the anti-war movement. There were also a few people the authors interviewed who were simply witnesses to some of the most seminal events of the time. For example, there was Leone Keegan, who was an 18 year old freshman at Kent State University in Ohio at the time of the murder there of four student anti-war protesters by the Ohio National Guard in May 1970. The following remarks she made I found especially sobering:

"About a month after the shooting --- I think it was June --- Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young gave an outdoor concert in Cleveland. It was the first time they sang the song Ohio, and it was chilling. People were on their feet, you know, clapping their hands, moving their bodies, crying. Everybody was just sort of shaking. ... You listen to music now and it seems so candyish. ... Then it seemed to have a purpose. I'll never forget that night. ... {Sings softly.} 'This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio...' "

For anyone interested in social history, as well as in what the 1960s signified and how it impacted a nation, read this book. I have, and been deeply moved by the experience.

[jon]

Interesting and informative, not academically serious

I received this book as a gift and found it an enjoyable, quick and easy read. I'm a twentysomething who often felt I grew up in the shadow of the 60s, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the interviews but have long been intrigued by the period.

I learned a fair amount about what happened in the 60s, and the format helps put you in the minds of the selected participants. I think any historical study should include direct testimonials, and in that sense I found the book helpful but by no means comprehensive, and not that well balanced.

The testimonials shed light on a few critical areas: the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and its detractors, sexual liberation, the women's movement and student protest. The accounts included in the book are pretty weighted toward the left, which as a liberal was somewhat comfortable, but it would have been better to hear from authority and establishment figures as well: police officers, academic administrators, parents, elected officials. The book offers no analysis of the success or failures of its participants' actions, or their lasting effects. It also would help if the interviews were more current as they seem about 10 years behind. However, it was interesting to see where these people are now, and it was encouraging that most of them stand by their actions and continue living lives that manifest similar beliefs. And it was good to hear from some who became cynical and/or conservative. Some subjects interviewed were more articulate than others, but a handful I found very lucid and insightful. I gleaned several ideas for avenues I might pursue in studying the 1960s.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you are trying to make some sense of the 1960s in America. It's worth the short time it takes to read. But I would definitely include it among many books rather than relying on it too heavily; it's not an especially profound or analytical examination of the topic.

[Chy]

I've read a lot of books on the 1960s. What made this one different from all the others was that is was about and by people who lived through some of the biggest cultural moments of the decade. Topics covered Vietnam - those who went and those who didn't, civil rights, the counterculture, women's movement and so much. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what it was like during one of the most turbulent decades of recent memory.

[Estahli]

Having grown up during this time in history, the book was very interesting to me.