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1968: The Year that Rocked the World

mark kurlansky

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Brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of the pivotal year of 1968, when television's influence on global events first became apparent, and spontaneous uprisings occurred simultaneously around the world.

To some, 1968 was the year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yet it was also the year of the Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy assassinations; the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; Prague Spring; the antiwar movement and the Tet Offensive; Black Power; the generation gap; avant-garde theater; the upsurge of the women's movement; and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union.

In this monumental book, Mark Kurlansky brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of that pivotal year, when television's influence on global events first became apparent, and spontaneous uprisings occurred simultaneously around the world. Encompassing the diverse realms of youth and music, politics and war, economics and the media, 1968 shows how twelve volatile months transformed who we were as a people–and led us to where we are today.

480 pages, Paperback

First published December 30,2003

This edition

Format
480 pages, Paperback
Published
January 11, 2005 by Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN
9780345455826
ASIN
0345455827
Language
English

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About the author

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mark kurlansky

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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
L3teesh
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Obviously interesting history but marred (IMHO) by uneven--and odd--levels of detail in some places but not in others, some casual interjections of opinion, and a semi-chronological structure that had him bouncing around in time and place probably more than was optimal.

His choice of focal points (the student/youth movements, Czechoslovakia, the 1968 election) were fine. He did have some occasional minor players on which he did a more than casual dive (Poland, France and De Gaulle, feminism, Mexico). But I'm not sure I ever did fully get his editorial choices over what to cover at length, versus what received zero or glancing coverage.

I did like his comment about Republicans going for the racist vote, while Democrats went for the black vote, and discovering there were more racists than blacks. I guess some things don't change.

I missed 1968 myself...my experience of that year was the same as Eddie Izzard ("Look Dad, I got soot in me eyes...look Dad, I've got a banana in each ear"). So I did like having this bit of my own history filled in.
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ShanaStrauss
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is one of the most readable and entertaining history books I have read. Kurlansky assumes little prior knowledge on the part of the reader - he narrates the origins of the Vietnam War, the formation of NATO and Warsaw Pact and the foundations of the cold war, history of the early decades of the century in Mexico etc - sometimes perhaps to the bemusement to the regular history reader. What Kurlansky manages to pull off is extremely rare: pushing the reader to the times so that he can feel and touch the events; sit in the protest arena-turned Columbia University, simply talk in the streets of Paris, and read news with excitement in Prague. He reveals both the euphoria and the tragedy of the eventful year. What was inspiring and what was disappointing? Kurlansky has also has a flair for making particular characters wild and fascinating - I cannot describe how many videos of Allen Ginsberg I went on to see while and after reading the book. Also, Kurlansky clearly takes sides. He loves the protesters, yippies, hippies, black power activists, and feminists. One can't help get kicks as he uses Nixon and to a lesser extent, Reagan as punching bags. One has to get kicks reading the book. One has to read the book.
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That0ne6irl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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First, there are 2 exceptional reviews here: Pamela and Claire. Pam more overview and Claire detailed. Second, I'm a Kurlansky fan: Cod, Salt, Paper, Fish Tale . . . Third, I was there: summer of my freshman year - The Doors, Lou Rawls at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park, ditto Sergio Mendes, Harris/Jim Webb MacArthur's Park, 1962 beige Comet automatic 4 door with a bench seat, favorite album soundtrack 'A Man and A Woman,' the girl friend's best friend's boy friend/double date companion was Army warrant Huey driver just back from Nam - and waking up to the radio alarm clock with the news of Bobby Kennedy's death. Oh, and not being a particularly stellar student - the friendly letter summoning me to a June meeting with the local Draft Board. And, and, and . . . . this is really more of a refresher/fill in some of the blanks for those of us who were actually there. Not sure that someone who was older then or not born yet is really going to get a 'feel' for what it was like to be alive then. And using the Collins/Dante as the hopeful closer was extra points for Kurlansky for me. And, perhaps, equally appropriate for this year.
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Child_of_Demons
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A very good summary of some of the most startling, raucous, bloody, deadly, and influential events of 1968, "the year that rocked the world," according to author Mark Kurlanksy. The Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia during The Prague Spring. The rise of Black Power, black-gloved fists raised on the gold medal stand at the Mexico City Olympics in protest against racial injustice, and university student protests throughout the US and Europe. President Johnson bows out of the 1968 presidential campaign. The Chicago Police Riot at the Democratic National Convention. The deadliest year for US troops in Vietnam. Massive protests against the Vietnam War. MLK and Bobby Kennedy assassinated. News reports from around the world broadcast live for the first time. The second Women's Lib movement. Rise of the youth culture. Skirts are shorter; bras, burned. The Beatles release "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." There seemed to be no peace anywhere.

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Godai_Reviews
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Mark Kurlansky's book does a masterful job of recounting the momentous social, cultural, and political events of 1968. In 1968 I was a 19-year-old American college student, fairly liberal but not radical (RFK supporter, anti-war, non-violent demonstrator). Reading the book reactivated memories that had been dormant for almost 50 years. The worldwide scope of the book also broadened my knowledge and understanding of the era beyond what had been more immediately familiar to me at the time.

I'm confident that readers who were "of age" in 1968 will appreciate the book for similar reasons, and I highly recommend it to them. I think that readers to whom 1968 is just "ancient history" will also enjoy and learn from the book. 1968 was truly an eventful, consequential year, with repercussions that are still being felt today.
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teraphIl1000
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is the way I like to read history: reading of simultaneous events around the world; and 1968 was a pivotal year politically, culturally etc. and engaged passionately many people in their 20s-out with the old order and the supposed end of hypocrisy and inequality and sexism and "keeping up of appearances". History does seem to repeat itself albeit in an updated technologically way.
I think, given the author's other books,he is a "neat" person.
Jo
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n1ckelpickel
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Kurlansky is master of small ceremonies. Author of Salt: A World History and Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, he examines another deceptively small thing in 1968: a year. He draws together disparate people and events in a global portrait of revolutionary change. Kurlansky is the first to admit that his youthful, anti-Vietnam bent is anything but objective; after all, he came of age during the turbulent

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MerialP
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is rather different from other Kurlansky books I have read. Where previous books of his focused on one topic throughout the span of history, this one instead looked at world history through a single year. It's a storied one, to be sure, and I knew about a lot of the events related to America, but had little knowledge of the things happening in other parts of the world (though to be fair, I was not to be born for another thirteen years). It was eye-opening how ubiquitous this change was, and how it stemmed in large part from advances in technology, particularly television. I feel like I understand what was happening quite a bit better than I did before, including somewhat more nuanced looks at important public figures of the time. From the name, I expected a bit more music history, so that might have been chosen just a bit better (1968 being a rather important year in rock music), but what I got was quite interesting, just the same.
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