Berkeley at War: The 1960s - Hardcover

Rorabaugh, W.J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195058771 ISBN 13: 9780195058772

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1989

Synopsis

Berkeley, California, was the bellwether of the political, social, and cultural upheaval that made the 1960s a unique period of American history--a time when the top-down methods of a conservative establishment collided head-on with the bottom-up, grass-roots ethos of the civil rights movement and an increasingly well-educated and individualistic middle class.
W.J. Rorabaugh, who attended the graduate school of the University of California at Berkeley in the early 1970s, presents a lively and informative account of the events that overtook and changed forever what had once been a quiet, conservative white suburb. The rise of the Free Speech Movement, which gave a voice to disfranchised students; the growth and increasing militance of a black community struggling to end segregation; the emergence of radicalism and the anti-war movement; the blossoming of "hippie" culture, with its scorn for materialism and enthusiasm for experimentation with everything from sex and drugs to Eastern philosophies; the beginnings of modern-day feminism and environmentalism--and how all of these coalesced in the explosive conflict over People's Park--are traced in a meticulously researched and authoritative narrative.
At issue was the question of power, and the struggle between the establishment and the powerless led to developments that the advocates of a freer society could scarcely have foreseen: Ronald Reagan, elected governor of California in reaction to the events at Berkeley, and Edwin H. Meese III, who battled against the student movement and People's Park, rose to national power in the 1980s (without, however, gaining any popularity in Berkeley, where Walter Mondale won 83 percent of the vote in 1984). An invaluable account of its time and place, this book anchors the '60s in American history, both before and since that colorful decade.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author:
W.J. Rorabaugh is Professor of History at the University of Washington. He is the author of The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition and The Craft Apprentice: From Franklin to the Machine Age.

Reviews

This well-written volume is a complement to Joseph P. Lyford's The Berkeley Archipelago (LJ 5/1/83). It is exceptionally well researched, and the detailed footnotes, etc ., will make it useful to local and period scholars. The book's four chapters focus on separate elements (e.g., students, blacks, etc.) in the Berkeley, California, community's admixture of culture and politics. The elements overlapped when the new University of California President, Clark Kerr, fueled a protest movement when he failed to define academic free speech policy. People's Park, Telegraph Hill, and other city sites became skirmish scenes as radicals gained control of community politics; liberals, the university; and conservatives, the state government. Berkeley's politics sent Ron Dellums to Congress, but also sent Ronald Reagan to the White House. Recommended.
- James L. Jablonowski, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195058771
• ISBN 13: 9780195058772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328