Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
America's fragile post-WWII consensus foundered on the shoals of racial conflict, war, and the sexual revolution, according to this insightful study. Northwestern University historian Boyle (Arc of Justice) focuses on three themes in this loosely chronological narrative of the 1960s through 1972. The grandest is the civil rights movement's demolition of Jim Crow and segregation--in Boyle's telling, it's an epic of dogged organizing and courageous showdowns with racist violence that ultimately bogged down in white backlash against forced busing to integrate schools. The second is the Vietnam War, which destroyed Lyndon Johnson's presidency and splintered Cold War liberalism into an enduring political and countercultural rift between left and right. The third is the establishment of a constitutional right to privacy in court cases legalizing birth control and abortion, which became a main front in the struggle between feminists and religious conservatives. Boyle's elegantly written account weaves together evolving currents of activism, mainstream politics, and public opinion with vignettes of ordinary people's lives and vivid profiles of Martin Luther King Jr., segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace, and lesser-known figures such as civil rights organizer Ella Baker and Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" in Roe v. Wade. The result is a skillful encapsulation of an era that brought to a boil conflicts still tormenting American society today. Photos. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
This history of the 1960s United States by National Book Award winner Boyle (American history, Northwestern Univ.; Arc of Justice) begins with the story of a patriotic middle-class family in 1950s Chicago to set the stage for the tumultuous decade to follow. Boyle's cleverly written book covers (mostly chronologically) three broad subjects that played out between 1960 and 1972: first, the civil rights movement and activists who dealt with extreme violence and still managed to overturn Jim Crow laws; second, the Vietnam War and U.S. foreign policy and their effects on American youths; and third, government attempts to control sexuality and women's rights, plus two major rulings on abortion and birth control that started a battle between feminists and religious institutions that still resonates. Boyle dives deep into figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Alabama governor George Wallace and also profiles vitally important people who have been less often written about, including Ella Baker and Estelle Griswold. The book is enhanced by maps of U.S. military conflicts and photographs from the civil rights movement and other events. VERDICT Fans of Boyle's previous works and readers of books by Isabel Wilkerson and Jon Meachum will find exceptional research and powerful writing in this outstanding history.--Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, CO
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A concise, beautifully written history of the "long" 1960s, bringing the most important events and developments of that tumultuous decade to vivid life. Boyle, who won the National Book Award for Arc of Justice (2004), aims his latest at general readers intrigued by this pivotal period of U.S. history. However, it's likely that those most affected by the text will be those who lived through the period; the author delivers a potent reminder of the unremitting, searing crises of those years. Assassinations, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate crisis are only the most significant. Other incidents and cultural changes weren't far behind in impact: Woodstock, experimentations in drugs and sex, sit-ins and teach-ins, protest marches, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights laws, the 1968 Democratic Convention, Roe v. Wade, the Pentagon Papers, etc. Boyle slights no major figures--Lyndon Johnson, Abbie Hoffman, the Beatles, Tom Hayden, Barry Goldwater, George Wallace, and Richard Nixon get their due--while bringing in many lesser-known ones. Admitting to necessary selectivity, the author has to pass over many issues then just coming to prominence, including Latino and Native rights, the women's movement, and the emerging environmental crisis. Boyle convincingly, if too subtly, contends that the "old order," though undoubtedly under immense pressure from the outside, also "cracked from within." Boyle is skilled at setting events in their particular context, although occasionally, as in the throat-clearing opening 60 pages on the years before 1960, he overdoes it. What makes the book particularly effective is the author's inclusion of the lives and situations of ordinary Americans; Boyle's memorable character sketches capture the hard realities and significant changes that occurred during that time. The author is also commendably balanced in his assessments; it's difficult to discern his partialities. Ultimately, this is a standout example of narrative analytical history. A brilliantly achieved history of some unusually fraught years of American history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
