Recovering From The
Sixties: Heroes, Criminals & Iconic Clowns
“Chicago ’68: Tales
of the Hoffmans”
Leonard’s review of two books written in 1988 about 1968, The Year of the Barricade: A
Journey Through 1968, by David Caute and Chicago ’68 by David
Farber. He writes, “Between them they tell us all we need to know in order to
feel bad all over again.” His point seems to be that trying to make some sense
of the many varied and disconnected movements of the sixties is a waste of time
(…and, therefore, neither author does it well). It was a series of movements populated by an immature and disorganized group of young people led by a
shallow and uncommitted group of political and cultural figures (e.g. Eugene
McCarthy and Abbie Hoffman) and were ultimately crushed by the “short hairs.”
At the end of the day, “The New Left assessment of the situation was bananas.”
Great Leonard quote about the year, “It was nasty, but also
cute.”
Nine more essays coming up in this section about 1968.
New words: Zeitgeist = dominant school of intellectual
thought that influenced a particular time; Weltanschauung = a comprehensive
conception of the world. Leonard writes that Caute’s book, “…is lots of
Zeitgeists looking for a Weltanschauung.”
New
learning: After a visit to Charles Manson in prison, Jerry Rubin (Yippies)
declared, “One of the most poetic and intense people we ever met…his words and
courage inspire us.”
Jerry Rubin, looks a little like Manson:
No comments:
Post a Comment