KENNETH HEINEMAN (226 PAGES)

Some arguments and assessments in this history of the Sixties are off, but this book is short and invaluable; it describes many people prominent during the Sixties: Have a name, and likely there is a short reference in the index. The shortcomings of the book is a lack of footnotes and a truly functional bibliography.

What was written about West Coast events is largely in error. There are arrests and generally the dates are accurate, but what happened is wrong. The easiest of such issues happened at San Francisco State, escalating riots about minority studies. Administrators were frozen. S.I. Hayakawa, set up a mass arrest in late 1968 and let it be known he – Hayakawa – was ready to talk. He talked with each minority and hammered out solutions. The only group Hayakawa would not negotiate with were whites. Hayakawa had the blessing and backing of Governor Ronald Reagan. Hayakawa did not cave into leftist demands as Heineman says. Hayakawa’s success was felt across San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, where University Administrators were wondering, What is Hayakawa’s secret?

In its organization the book suggests much more organization the leadership of the Left had over events and happenings. Thee are names and in some places, those names may have had great sway over events, which had repercussions elsewhere. Kent State was a multiplier. But many of those issues were national in origin, not local which also could give rise to protests and violence.

Primarily, the names who wrote were not read. No one wanted to slog through Marxist-Stalinist- Maoist tripe. Whereas writers in the feminist, the ecological and in the disability movement were read. They discussed issues pertinent and common sensical to the American future, for young and old. Women, ecology and disability arose during the last Sixties but are little mentioned in this book.

Heineman does not otherwise sugar coat much when describing youth and their times: I did not know to get James Meredith’s admission into the University of Mississippi (October 1962), the Kennedy’s assigned U.S. Marshalls to protect him; they could not use their weapons. In a riot 166 Marshalls were injured including 28 gunshot wounds. 1962, was the first violent campus riot of the Sixties. It was also buried by the Cuban Missile Crisis beginning two weeks later.

I never liked George Wallace, but I did not know he rallied hecklers at his political rallies: Wallace said they liked four letter words, and offered two of his own: Soap. Work.

Needless to say Old Miss rioters and shooters were not the ideological companions of rioters and protesters elsewhere, except for the hate, loathing and disregard for law and civil order. Issues of these leaders and rioters are set forth in this book, briefly and intelligently.

In the final sum-up Heineman short-shrifts the counter-culture as causing long-lasting effects of those events and forces. The primary manifestations are drug usage and loud music. And today many Boomers are hard of hearing, are reliant on pharmaceuticals (One pills makes you bigger, and the other makes you small) and they think little. Obscurantism is an American problem.

It should be observed that many of the incidences directed at the Fifties and Sixties Civil Rights Movements and at its leaders are present today.