From Imagination to Power

"Power to the imagination!" demanded the posters plastered on Paris walls fifty years ago this spring. One could imagine these alloys of rebellion fusing into a movement strong enough to batter the old order and build a new one, but those in power were quite capable of imagining how to keep it. Rudi Dutschke, the charismatic German activist, cautioned his fellow leftists of the "long march through the institutions" during that bygone heyday of big dreams. Editor Michael Kazin argue this insistence on pragmatic thinking and strategic action complementing the radical spirit of 1968 remain essential for our political imaginations today.