1968: The Year that Rocked the World

Description

'A fascinating account... combining the rigour of the historian with the powerful emotions of someone who was a 20-year-old student at the time' Uncut 'A fascinating account...combining the rigour of the historian with the powerful emotions of someone who was a twenty-year-old student at the time' Uncut It was the year of sex and drugs and rock and roll. But what impact did it have on today's political and social landscape? It was also the year of the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations, the Prague Spring, the Chicago convention, the Tet offensive in Vietnam and the anti-war movement, the student rebellion that paralysed France, civil rights, the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union, and the birth of the women's movement. With 1968- The Year that Rocked the World, award-winning journalist Mark Kurlansky has written his magnum opus - a cultural and political history of that world-changing year of social upheaval, when television's impact on global events first became apparent, and when simultaneously - in Paris, Prague, London, Berkeley, and all over the globe - uprisings spontaneously occurred. 1968 encompasses the worlds of youth and music, politics, war, economics, assassinations, riots, demonstrations and the media, and shows us how we got to where we are today.

Mark Kurlansky is author of Cod- A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (winner of the Glenfidish's Best Food Book Award), The Basque History of the World, Salt- A World History and a short story collection The White Man in the Tree (all published by Cape and Vintage). He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

A riveting, evocative, entertaining read. * Observer * Eminently readable... Will bring a flood of memories of an exceptional year in the exceptional 1960s * The Economist * An expansive, explosive account * Esquire * Kurlansky is a very superior journalist: diligent in his research, quirkily original in his insights, swift and clear in his storytelling. 1968 is a riveting, evocative, entertaining read * Observer *