The Sixties Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade (review)

In his new book, The Sixties Unplugged, historian Gerard DeGroot offers a simple, if provocative, thesis: that the decade did not produce radical social or cultural change. Th e traditional historical narrative has survived, despite its inaccuracies, because it has been "zealously guarded by those keen to protect something sacred" (1). Drawing on primary and secondary sources, DeGroot uses 67 vignettes, loosely organized into chapters, to debunk these persistent myths.

DeGroot takes some of the big personalities of the era to task, and few sixties "heroes" escape his sharp analysis unscathed. Th e American New Left led a "short-lived, self-centered, and tame" movement (18). Th e leaders of Students for a Democratic Society had "extraordinarily large" egos and were "nine-tenths hot air." DeGroot dismisses their Port Huron statement—the Magna Carta for sixties radicals—as "boring" (94-5). President John F. Kennedy, oft en credited with inspiring a generation of civic engagement with his vision of the New Frontier, remained a hero in death because, according to DeGroot, "Kennedy died before he had to grapple seriously with the very divisive, costly, and soul-destroying problems of the mid-Sixties" (105).

Ultimately, why did the radical movement fail to produce lasting change? DeGroot offers an obvious, if oft en overlooked, explanation: "Attempts by radicals to turn alienation into a mass movement failed miserably, for the simple reason that the masses coveted the sort of life that activists despised" (92). Consumer capitalism proved a more powerful ideology than participatory democracy. Heroes like Che Guevara "symbolizes an era when symbols smothered words" (124). Guevara's likeness, captured on T-shirts and postcards and used to market Nike shoes, hint at the ultimate irony: "Billions of dollars have been made peddling the image of a socialist" (121). In death Che's triumphs are remembered, his failures never discussed.

DeGroot's thesis is strongest when exploring the sixties from a non-Western perspective. Th e chapter "Hard Rain" begins not with the creation of Students for a Democratic Society, but with the tragic massacre of antiapartheid protestors in South Africa by local police. Other sections examine the Cultural Revolution in China, Bay of Pigs, Prague Spring, Ap Bac Vietnam, and the murder of Patrice Lumumba. Adding these stories to the kaleidoscope of sixties history forces readers to reconsider the decade as a period of missed opportunities, rigid ideologies, and tragic consequences.

By offering such an expansive overview of the decade, DeGroot has overlooked important details. He argues, for example, that historians have focused myopically on the New Left while the New Right, which did lead a successful movement of political change in the Sixties, has gone largely unnoticed. Th e evidence does not bear this argument out. Scholars have produced path-breaking studies of 1960s conservatism in the last fifteen years. Notable works include Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors, David Farber and Jeff Roche's edited volume, Th e Conservative Sixties, John Andrew's The Other Side of the Sixties, and Greg Schneider's Cadres for Conservatism.¹

Similarly, DeGroot's treatment of the feminist movement glosses over important achievements and fails to capture the true radicalism of the activists. Infuriated with their male counterparts who dismissed their demands for equality, radical feminists organized a movement that did achieve lasting social change (reaching its climax in the 1970s). DeGroot seems reluctant to acknowledge the power of this movement and its roots in the sixties.

These criticisms, however, do not detract significantly from the book's many strengths. The Sixties Unplugged would be useful for graduate and undergraduate courses in recent American history and the history of the 1960s. It examines social, political, and cultural issues and spans several continents. At nearly 450 pages, it may be a bit long for an undergraduate class, but each section and chapter stands alone, so it is possible to assign only portions of the work. Engagingly written, Th e...