The Movement and the Sixties

Rating:
Summary: A great narrative history of the Sixties.
Review: Anderson's book is a great narrative account of that most legendary of decades, the Sixties. He does a good job of identifying the various strands that made up Sixties culture, strands which are often lumped together by people today who have but a hazy notion of what really went on. The book is full of great anecdotes and supported by loads of primary sources. Read this book and check to see if this is how you remember it!

Rating:
Summary: A great narrative history of the Sixties.
Review: Anderson's book is a great narrative account of that most legendary of decades, the Sixties. He does a good job of identifying the various strands that made up Sixties culture, strands which are often lumped together by people today who have but a hazy notion of what really went on. The book is full of great anecdotes and supported by loads of primary sources. Read this book and check to see if this is how you remember it!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing results from a brillant start
Review: Anderson, takes on a monolith topic, and in doing so sheds much light on the agitation of race relations and the anti-war movement that swept the campuses of America in the Sixties. Unfortunately, he is depended all too often on establishment sources, and his interpretation of movement frenzy is something short of the realism we would expect from such a book. His attempt to span the pre-Kent State with post Kent State aftermath is unique and insightful though, and worth the effort for the benefit of this arguement alone.
Timothy Fitzgerald

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text for 60's in America
Review: As a student and then student teacher of a course using this book i have found it not only personally interesting but a stimulating book for conversation with my students! It is in no way dry but gives insightful analysis of a time too often shown to today's youth in cliches and stereotypes.

Rating:
Summary: Authoritative guide to who/what changed America in '60s
Review: As one of Dr. Anderson's former students, I happened upon this book in a local bookstore and recognized it as his. It is an outstanding, unique look at a time in American life when ACTION was how to be heard and how to get things done, instead of just words. If you remember the time, it's like a second, much more pleasurable walk through it. If you don't (or you were too young), this is the next best thing. Anderson's personable writing style makes an interesting topic even more wonderful to read. Alison Fisher ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Look At The Sixties Social Movement!
Review: I stumbled upon this wonderful book as a used book at the local bookshop, and was delighted to discover just how complete and accurate a description it renders of the virtual kaleidoscope of activities associated with what came to be called 'the movement" in what was likely the most turbulent and tumultuous decade of the 20th century; the nineteen sixties. Professor Terry Anderson delivers a yeoman historian's look at the details of how what began as a fairly narrowly circumscribed civil rights effort on behalf of American blacks was transformed into a far-more comprehensive and sometimes all-inclusive broadside social and cultural critique of mainstream American society. In this book, "The Movement and the Sixties", Anderson breathes considerable life & pointed animation into a cautionary tale many of us actually lived through some forty years ago.

Anderson finds the origins of the so-called movement in the civil rights movement originating in the Greensboro sit-in protests in 1960. Through meticulous research and impressive documentation, he traces how the combination of moral outrage, youthful energy, and the rapid economic changes transforming American society itself combined to create an almost unstoppable cultural force, one that literally brought millions of citizens into the streets into social activism, and in the process transformed almost every aspect of contemporary society, from race relations to sexual equality, from student activism to the cultural view on the war in Vietnam. This is indeed a penetrating effort that succeeds in meaningfully exploring the nature of the social history of the sixties generation, who dared to question the very nature of and validity surrounding the American social system. Anderson shows how the initial efforts of the civil rights activists eventually blossomed into a garden variety of different protest activities, most profoundly, of course, in connection with the war in Vietnam.

In the fullness of time, the coalition of different communities in this widely-supported anti-war effort led to the further flowering of cultural criticism into many other areas of the contemporary culture, from minority rights to the counterculture, from gay rights to feminism. In the process, an impressive array of important aspects of our society came to be more closely examined, and were subsequently criticized and attacked, ranging from elements such as corporate polluters, who were then attacked by the environmental movement, to the behavior of organizations like the FBI and CIA, who were revealed later to have committed a wide range of transgressions against American citizens, most of whom had done nothing wrong and who the federal agencies had no legal right to either spy upon, nor to harass, nor to smear in the mass media, all of which was done. Anderson covers the history of the era with precision and a plethora of evidence regarding how the events and individuals depicted made the history of the times, and how profoundly they influenced how life in this country changed forever as a result. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Great Information. I did a project...
Review: In the 8th grade I did a project about the protests against the Vietnam war i nteh 1960's. THis book was my main reference. it has pictures, quotes, lines from songs, and all-over great information. I would reccomend this book to just about anyone who just felt like learning something new about the "flower child" era. (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times) this is a great book, and it was fun to read, in spite of it being for a grade. I really encourage you to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Information. I did a project...
Review: In the 8th grade I did a project about the protests against the Vietnam war i nteh 1960's. THis book was my main reference. it has pictures, quotes, lines from songs, and all-over great information. I would reccomend this book to just about anyone who just felt like learning something new about the "flower child" era. (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times) this is a great book, and it was fun to read, in spite of it being for a grade. I really encourage you to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional!!!
Review: It's not just for history buffs!! As a former student and friend I can honestly recommend this book to anyone. Terry does an excellent job of conveying lots of feeling and fact about an ever changing time in history. I'm sure a lot of it comes from previous experience and lots of research of which I can assure you. This book is enlightening and informative, and filled with Terry's own sense of style.