Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin and Its Aftermath

An account of the 1970 bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin sheds light on the event while also chronicling the anti-war movement. 50,000 first printing. $60,000 ad/promo. Tour.

In 1969-1970 a radical group called the New Year's Gang protested U.S. involvement in Vietnam with a series of firebombings in Madison, Wisconsin, which climaxed in the destruction of the Army Math Research Center and several other buildings on the University of Wisconsin campus. The August 24, 1970, explosion took the life of a physicist, injured several people and destroyed valuable research material. The core members of the gang, led by Karl Armstrong, fled to Canada, where they found refuge in Toronto's antiwar underground. Arrested in 1972, they were extradited to Wisconsin, tried and convicted. Bates, a University of Wisconsin student at the time, traces the events leading up to the bombing and its aftermath with insight into the passionate but often ill-formed thinking of these campus activists. The bombing, he remarks, "demonstrated anew what an inexact science violence is as an instrument of change, what terrible and unexpected side effects it has." His narrative of the bombing and the flight, capture and trial of the culprits, is absorbing, but what renders the book memorable is his brilliant re-creation of the protest movement and the self-defeating tactics of both the militants and the authorities. Bates is a former editor of the Los Angeles Times.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bates recounts the 1970 bombing of the University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center in Madison and examines how this event marked the end of the violent 1960s. Beginning with the bombing itself, which killed a young physicist and caused $6 million in damage, Bates then backtracks to local, national, and international events prior to the explosion. He discusses the obscure terrorist group that set the bomb and tells the story of Karl Armstrong, one of its members. He describes the government crackdown and the FBI hunt for Armstrong. Bates evokes the emotions of the period by analyzing each person's reaction to the events around them. He explores the characters' thoughts in extreme detail, leaving the reader to wonder how such precise information was obtained. Additionally, the large number of participants is confusing, and it is difficult to remember each person's role. Even so, this book is exciting to read and is recommended for large public libraries and academic libraries interested in this time period.
- Jeanine McAdam, Mt. Sinai Medical Ctr. Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.