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outcolder's review
3.0
Having loved both Salt and Cod, I am a bit disappointed with 1968. Too Boomerish, really, or better, too white and too male. He is at his best here in the chapters where he spoke to people involved and at his worst when relying too heavily on the New York Times. But he gives the impression that the noble, nonviolent civil rights movement was important mainly as a training ground for white SDSers and the women’s movement gets very little attention, and Black Power was a bad scene and the Black Panthers were no good (the only Panther book he lists in the bibliography is the grotesque distortion by Hugh Pearson) and not only does all that turn me off but then there are also these bits about the aftermath of the “Six Day War” that I also felt was a bit yucky in a Boomer way... the Poland chapter and the Prague Spring stuff was great. Then the Mexico chapter... which was why I wanted to read it in the first place, not knowing much about Mexico’s 68 and hoping for some global context... the Mexico chapter is this great opportunity for him to tell a story most English language readers don’t know, and he actually gets down there to talk to the now grown student radicals who survived... and that chapter was great but he writes that many people wouldn’t talk with him about it... still afraid of PRI thugs... and I am thinking, yeah, they don’t trust you, Mark...
One more thing: this book made me less interested in Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies so that might help me cull some titles from my ridiculous to-read list...
One more thing: this book made me less interested in Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies so that might help me cull some titles from my ridiculous to-read list...
bristlecone's review
4.0
Very well written. A fascinating look at a year in which multiple movements arose and the dynamics of those movements --- both the failure of those in power to understand the movements and the failure of the movements to understand the brutal force those in power were willing to use to suppress those movements. The insights from this book are very relevant today.
novelesque_life's review
4.0
4 STARS
"Although it might have seemed logical to follow his successful books Cod (1997) and Salt (2002) with Olive Oil, Kurlansky has a different agenda this time out. But what can be gained from yet another Boomer report on the 1960s? Surprisingly, quite a bit. In examining the momentous events of 1968, he refolds the map so the U.S. is no longer the center of student protest. Though this "spontaneous combustion of rebellious spirits around the world"--including countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, and Mexico--may have drawn oxygen from the U.S. civil rights movement, other fuel for the fires was locally available: intense generational differences, hatred of the Vietnam War, and the rise of TV news. The role of media resonates throughout. As events unfold season by season, we're reminded that this was indeed the dawn of Marshall McLuhan's "global village." And if we're stirred at remembering the passion of the young protesters, we may be sobered to consider whether we're now living in philosopher Herbert Marcuse's age of technological anesthesia. Despite a sometimes torrential flow of facts and figureheads, Kurlansky's writing remains accessible. He is as adept at discerning the way people move machines as he has been at discussing innovation's impact on people. This is very fine--and surprisingly timely-- although its scope and complexity may keep it from finding the broad popularity of the author's earlier works, where we delighted in the surprising histories of ordinary things." (From Amazon)
I really liked this well written book. I would recommend this for any history readers or interested in this decade or time.
"Although it might have seemed logical to follow his successful books Cod (1997) and Salt (2002) with Olive Oil, Kurlansky has a different agenda this time out. But what can be gained from yet another Boomer report on the 1960s? Surprisingly, quite a bit. In examining the momentous events of 1968, he refolds the map so the U.S. is no longer the center of student protest. Though this "spontaneous combustion of rebellious spirits around the world"--including countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, and Mexico--may have drawn oxygen from the U.S. civil rights movement, other fuel for the fires was locally available: intense generational differences, hatred of the Vietnam War, and the rise of TV news. The role of media resonates throughout. As events unfold season by season, we're reminded that this was indeed the dawn of Marshall McLuhan's "global village." And if we're stirred at remembering the passion of the young protesters, we may be sobered to consider whether we're now living in philosopher Herbert Marcuse's age of technological anesthesia. Despite a sometimes torrential flow of facts and figureheads, Kurlansky's writing remains accessible. He is as adept at discerning the way people move machines as he has been at discussing innovation's impact on people. This is very fine--and surprisingly timely-- although its scope and complexity may keep it from finding the broad popularity of the author's earlier works, where we delighted in the surprising histories of ordinary things." (From Amazon)
I really liked this well written book. I would recommend this for any history readers or interested in this decade or time.
mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
I didn't read this book to learn about 1968. I read it because I was in the mood for another Kurlansky book, and not a re-read. Readable. Gripping. Educational. And really very current. Other than lack of mention of recent politics by name, this book read like it was written yesterday and not 18 years ago. And it also read like an early Doonesbury for some obvious reasons and yet Doonesbury didn't start until later. Prague Spring. For each of the events covered, Kurlansky went deep to give context but not too deep to lose the thread of the story.
mbondlamberty's review
5.0
I love most of Kurlanksky's books and this was no different.
Completely changes the perspective one has on a year that is viewed as so crucial in US history to show its place in the world.
Completely changes the perspective one has on a year that is viewed as so crucial in US history to show its place in the world.
swetzel9's review
2.0
I just could not get interested in this, even though its right in my wheelhouse. Considered giving up several times and finishing it ended up being almost a chore.