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Reviews
| Boom! Voices of the Sixties, Personal Reflections on the 60s and Today, by Tom Brokaw. New York: Random House, 2007. 662 pages. $28.95, cloth.
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| Aptly titled, this book presents reflections of baby boomers and some of their influential elders who led or otherwise lived through the decade from Kennedy's assassination to Nixon's resignation. Its premise is that a multi-faceted assessment of the Sixties might help move us beyond the simplistic characterizations—think culture wars—that keep us from a more fruitful politics today. NBC newsman Tom Brokaw organized and hosts this "virtual reunion." While not everyone "showed up," he clearly endeavors to present diverse views in such key areas as African-American civil rights, the Vietnam War, feminism, student activism, and popular culture. His voice entwines with his contributors' to make this also an account of his own experience of the changes he reported on then and is revisiting now. The tone is not celebratory. Gains are noted and many speak with pride of their activism, continuing to find personal satisfaction in having challenged the social, political, and/or cultural status quo. Yet others reflect on the ambiguity of outcome, critiquing their own and fellow activists' assumptions and actions. |
1
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Part I, "Something's Happening Here," encompasses the African-American civil rights movement, 1968's events, the Vietnam War, feminism, and the counterculture. Following a brief introduction by Brokaw, individuals discuss their beliefs and experiences, about equally attentive to the Sixties and now. Given Brokaw's access, many contributors are high-profile people, like John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Andrew Young on civil rights and Senator James Webb on the Vietnam War; others are less well-known, such as a former aide to George Wallace now actively working for racial equality; while a few are private individuals, such as a draft dodger who still lives in Canada and a couple—both Vietnam veterans—now working with Iraq War veterans. Not surprisingly, reflections and opinions remain divided; for example, there are thoughtful skeptics and defenders of the Vietnam War and the decade's drug use. |
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Part II, "Aftershocks: Consequences, Intended and Otherwise," focuses more directly on the Sixties' aftermath, assessing civil rights, political changes within the Democratic Party, the conservative renaissance, the Vietnam War, feminism, and popular culture, and includes one voice each from the environmental and Chicano movements. Again, the high-profile—Bill Clinton, Karl Rove, and Warren Beatty—mix with lesser-knowns, such as the books-for-the-masses entrepreneur who created Barnes & Noble. Many voices are very brief, adding little new to general information; the value lies largely in the cumulative virtual "conversation" that showcases the breadth of change over time. |
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Part III, "Reflections, See What Connects," most directly addresses today's divisive politics and Brokaw's concern as to why more was not accomplished and how we can build on what was. Reflections by Kevin Phillips and Todd Gitlin, among others, address the former question and profile the post-Sixties activism of Joan Baez, who criticized North Vietnam's postwar repression of its newly united country, and Jack Weinberg, who moved from the Free Speech Movement to union organizing to environmental activism, making common cause with politically-incorrect workers, corporations, and many others. Stewart Brand, originator of The Whole Earth Catalogue, who also champions computer technologies, addresses the latter. That Brokaw ends with astronaut Jim Lovell, who reflects on viewing Earth from space that "... we're all astronauts on this spaceship Earth ... and we have to work and live together," highlights Brokaw's overarching theme. |
4
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A long book, Boom! might be usable in teaching, but with caveats. Writing for the general public, Brokaw contextualizes events and contributors accordingly; he includes a timeline, but no bibliography. Selections vary in both length, from one to several pages, and interest. Readers will find some worth only a skim, while others offer insightful nuggets, and still others a fresh dimension. More problematic is the book's puzzling organization. Since each voice deals with then and now, the distinction between the book's parts blurs. Brokaw's presentist concern might account for placing most environmentalists in the final part, not where the movement is introduced in the second one. An impressionistic history of the Sixties and—given the brief contextualization, plus Brokaw's persistent presence—more a source of anecdotes than the longer excerpts of a typical course reader, Boom! is valuable chiefly for its reflective tone, which can enrich our presentation of the Sixties as a decade whose changes and outcomes were complex, most definitely not the simplified caricature of some partisan memories. |
5
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| Santa Monica College, California |
Suzanne Borghei |
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