One cannot understand the Sixties without understanding the Fifties. The Fifties were the first time the American youth had excess freedom. Before the 50’s they worked on the family farm; dusk till dawn, slaved in the sweat shops, 12 hours a day, six days a week; starved in the depression; and fought not knowing if they would be alive the next day in World War II and the Korean War. Then, suddenly, came the fifties. First there were the beatniks lead by their spiritual leader Williams Burrough, then the “bad boys of rock and roll Elvis, Johnny Cochran, and Jerry Lee Lewis prevailed. This excess freedom, led to freedom to think, freedom to question, freedom to challenge.
In the sixties, the peaceful non-violent Civil Rights Movement, progressed to the Black Power and the Black Panthers. The Civil Rights Movement was followed by the creeping involvement in Vietnam, first with military advisors, then massive troop deployments to Vietnam resulting in death, violence, destruction, and … then disillusion. And complementing the war, initially, the educational teach-ins led to massive antiwar demonstrations, to the Weathermen busting windows on Michigan Ave and planting bombs in the Capital. This all digressed to the “second civil war” which recently resurfaced with the Iraq War, I afraid now is progressing to the “third civil war”.
Throughout the book we follow the characters’ lives from romantic innocence to reality to Expressionism. Some fighting in Vietnam, some protesting the war, some marching for civil rights, friendships destroyed and then repaired. Some lives lost, some destroyed, some survived, but all caught up in the hubris characterized by a gross failure of governmental leadership. Those betrayed the most have their names on a black granite wall in Washington DC.
About the author
Mark Dahl was born in Manhattan KS. And has lived all over the country, He studied the entertainment business and wrote there four books, many screen/Teleplays as well as two treatment proposals for Television series. He wrote, produced a digital movie titled HARVEST MOON about the meth epidemic in America. My day job is in the medical field.I wrote COVENANT BETRAYDE, A THREE VOLUMES to give sense to the sixties-early seventies, a time of heated debate, and like today’s hostel divisions. I am student of history, not events and dates but how the people endured during tough times to give young people a perspective of attitudes that give color to history. Historians complain about the lack of more personable. To understand this gives richness and understanding history and how it affects people. History repeats itself and provides an important understanding of the complexities that are lacking in most non-fiction history books.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
112,060 Ebooks in this category
