Rating: 
Summary: Either You Love the 60's or You Do Not
Review: There is a certain (off putting) self centeredness about the book that makes it all sound more important than it really was. If you can tolerate that and you have the time for another book then this book is okay.Yes we can remember exactly what we were doing at the exact moments that Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot, as we did the other years when JFK was shot, or when Neil Armstrong uttered those famous words, or when Lady Di had the terrible traffic accident, or on 9-11. Yes the year 1968 was a year of turmoil and strife and re-evaluation of morals and values. It was a time when the baby boomers came of age and had to face the draft and rioting in the streets and flower power and drugs and everything else. For that generation and at that time the people thought it was all very important. But there are many important years and other milestones, and other generations, and I think in a larger picture and in retrospect this year was not that important. Having said that this is a very well written book with lots of interesting information even if there is a bit too much navel gazing about the age of Aquarius. Three or four stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating: 
Summary: If You Haven't Lived Through Read About It.
Review: This a great look at the year 1968. The book covers student turmoil and events around the globe. This book is a great read for those of us feeling down about what's happening in America today. It reminds us there is always hope in the young. It also reminds us of what happens when there are no independent voices in the media, and why another 1968 will be far harder to pull off ever again. Where's Abbie Hoffman now that we need him?
Rating:
Summary: A Little Bit For Everyone
Review: This book has a little bit for everyone. There is coverage of the US domestic issues: riots, protests, Civil Rights movement... It includes some excellent selections on the Prague Spring, and Poland. While spanning the globe, the biographical sketches are a nice touch too.
Handling the interconnectedness of the multiple topics is no small achievement, but Kurlansky does it well. He does this while drawing some long range views of the implications of the events. For instance, while Rockefeller fumbled the 68' Republican nomination, the Nixon crowd managed to move the party to the right. The long term effect of course, is the modern Republican Party which is dominated by ideologues of the far Right.
Likewise on the international scene. The uprisings in Czechoslovakia, though thwarted at the time, were the first dents in the mighty Soviet regime, that would falter, then ultimately implode some two decades later.
Although stumbling somewhat in its cultural critique, and consisting of an admitted Left-Wing bias, it has a good endnote and bibliographic collection, and is very readable.
As someone who grew up in the 60's, and has compiled a fairly broad range of readings on the period, I find this a worthy addition, and highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore the Gig Harbor Reviewer
Review: This reviewer didn't read the book, but instead heard an interview on a local radio show with the author. Just another closed-minded rant that does nothing to advance the spirit of debate.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful whirlwind tour of the eventful year
Review: This wonderful new account of the year 1968 gives one a whirlwind tour through the upheavals of that seminal year. From Cuba to China to Czechslovakia and Poland this boo does it all. A wide survey of everything from the Chicago 7 to the role of TV and disappearance of mini-skirts. Kurlansky is the master of story telling. He weaves in topics like the Jewish role in the Polish protests of 68', the Biafran war in Nigeria and the shooting of protestors in Mexico. Every subject is covered thoroughly so that you know the characters and feel the times. This is simply a very readable interesting account of a year that changed the world and still affects how we think about 20th century history.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book about a Turbulent Year
Review: Though I wouldn't be born for years after the tragic night they killed Bobby Kennedy, I remember it well. My father was there. Nineteen Sixty-Eight was a watershed year for him as it was for Amercia and the world. Not only did Bobby lose his life that year, but Martin did too. It was also the year of the siege of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, that war America wanted to forget even while it was still going on. It was a year of riots in both the aftermath of Mr. King's assassination and in Chicago at the Democratic Convention. Mr. Dubcek rose and fell in Czechoslovakia, Mr. Nixon became president, we saw TV from space and U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists in protest during the medals ceremony at the Olympic games in Mexico City. All of this and more I'd been raised with, had learned at my father's knee when I was a child, reminded of again at his side when I was a girl and later when I was a young woman. These events shaped him, made him into a wonderful liberal, always willing to give the shirt off his back to help a stranger in need. But my dad's gone now and I haven't thought about 1968 in years, not until I saw this wonderful book in my local bookstore. Mr. Kurlansky has delivered a book that brought back my dad, a book for all of us who were born so long after the fact and a book, I believe, that is must reading even for all of those who lived during that turbulent year that rocked the world. It's a year worth remembering, worth learning about, worth knowing.
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