The troubles, a jaundiced glance back at the movement of the sixties Book

The author of this book is an historian who has specialized in American history, particularly as pertains to The Industrial Workers of the World. Contrasted to the Left of the period leading up to the first world war and its potential to have changed the class structure of the USA, the Movement of the sixties pales in comparison. The author, while delivering a critique worthy of consideration as regards certain elements of the New Left, overstates his case in my opinion. In the sixties, those activists who hoped for a socio-economic revolution were certainly out of touch with objective realities and too volunteeristic in their approach, but as regards more limited aims such as the reigning in of US military adventurism, the loosening of certain social mores and the rights of women and minorities the Movement made substantial contributions. Still, the distance between dream and reality in the minds of many of us is worth noting and Conlin does it with engaging wit.