1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies

In his introduction to this wide-ranging and dense volume, Vinen (National Service), a history professor at King’s College London, explains that “this book is about ‘68’, by which I mean the radical movements and rebellion of the late 1960s and early ’70s.... 68 is both ubiquitous and remote.” It’s an ambitious task, to tackle the many elements that make up the “long 68” and its impact upon the world, but Vinen gives it his best shot. Acknowledging the global scope of his topic, the combination of revolutions, movements, wars, and social upheaval that defined the era, he chooses to focus on the “democracies of the industrialized West” and the “affluent countries in which radical protest came up against elected governments,” in particular France, Britain, West Germany, and the United States. Naturally, he examines the part played by universities—hotbeds of political and radical thinking, and battlegrounds for social change and new modes of behavior. He also surveys the fights for civil rights, gay rights, gender equality, and sexual liberation, all of which were manifest during this period. Vinen covers a lot of ground in a thorough, somewhat dry manner, making for a slow-going read, albeit one that rewards the dutiful reader with a fascinating overview of a pivotal era. [em]Agent: James Pullen, Wylie Agency (U.K.). (July) [/em]