Reframing 1968: American Politics, Protest and Identity

An essential fifty-year retrospective of 1968 as a defining moment in activism and radical politics'Few years have so stirred, divided, and haunted America as 1968: a war gone horribly wrong, revered leaders assassinated, ghettoes on fire, social movements oscillating wildly between hope and despair. The contributors to this stellar collection both recreate the intensity of that moment and incisively assess its significance for all that has happened since. Deeply probing, unsettling, and illuminating.'Gary Gerstle, Paul Mellon Professor of American History, University of CambridgeIn 1968, a series of local, national and global upheavals coalesced to produce some of the most consequential protest movements in the history of the United States. By examining the impact of 1968 on the shape of American politics, culture and identity, this volume offers a major fiftieth-anniversary retrospective of this watershed year for activism and radical politics. Reframing 1968 brings together a collection of new interdisciplinary essays by leading historians that focus on questions of race, gender, class, sexuality, war, democracy, urban demonstrations, campus radicalism, and the culture of protest.Martin Halliwell is Professor of American Studies in the Centre for American Studies and School of Arts at the University of Leicester.Nick Witham is Lecturer in US Political History at the Institute of the Americas, University College London.Cover image and design: www.richardbudddesign.co.uk