Synopses & Reviews
Entertaining and scrupulously researched,
Chicago '68 reconstructs the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicagoand#8212;an epochal moment in American cultural and political history. By drawing on a wide range of sources, Farber tells and retells the story of the protests in three different voices, from the perspectives of the major protagonistsand#8212;the Yippies, the National Mobilization to End the War, and Mayor Richard J. Daley and his police. He brilliantly recreates all the excitement and drama, the violently charged action and language of this period of crisis, giving life to the whole set of cultural experiences we call "the sixties."
"Chicago '68 was a watershed summer. Chicago '68 is a watershed book. Farber succeeds in presenting a sensitive, fairminded composite portrait that is at once a model of fine narrative history and an example of how one can walk the intellectual tightrope between 'reporting one's findings' and offering judgements about them."and#8212;Peter I. Rose, Contemporary Sociology
Review
"Like moths attracted to a bright and dangerous flame, American radicals knew they would have to be in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. . . . Farber offers a nuanced interior view of the radicals chaotically shifting mood as they flitted in and out of the city. [He] takes pains to get the texture of things right."
About the Author
David Farber is a professor of history atand#160;Temple University. He has authored and edited many books in modern American history, including The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Abbreviations
Narratives
1. Making Yippie!
2. The Politics of Laughter
3. Gandhi and Guerrilla
4. Mobilizing in Molasses
5. The Mayor and the Meaning of Clout
6. The City of Broad Shoulders
7. The Streets Belong to the People
Analyses
8. Inside Yippie!
9. Thinking about the Mobe and Chicago '68
10. Public Feelings
Notes
Index