Sights on the sixties

the long version

In this exciting new anthology on the 1960s, Barbara Tischler provides a basis for understanding the historical and cultural legacy of that decade. She brings together a group of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including American studies, anthropology, film studies, history, literature, sociology, and theater. Tischler notes how their contributions, taken separately and together, transcend the "good sixties/bad sixties" typology that has pervaded past analyses of. The period. Several contributors focus on campus activism and countercultural activities at the universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Texas. Others focus on off-campus forms of counterculture, and leaders like Abbie Hoffman, as well as alternative religious movements. There is a large section on culture, covering film, the arts, public protests, and street theater. Other contributions cover the Women's Strike for Peace and the broader women's movement. War resisters, antiwar activism in the armed forces, the relationship between activism and mainstream politics, the split between the Old Left and the New Left, and the legacies of the 1960s. Although some authors deal with movement leaders and great events, the majority write about lesser-known events and people, to add depth and balance to our understanding of the decade.