From Booklist
While there is a lot of nostalgia today for 1960s pop culture, many people are unaware of the important changes in society that resulted from this period and of the people who were responsible for them. Some, such as Dorothy Day and I. F. Stone, were longtime activists who became better known in the sixties. Others, such as Mario Savio and Mark Rudd, were only college students at the time. This collection of biographies surveys the lives and accomplishments of 86 men and women who range on the political spectrum from liberal to radical. Entries are arranged by such topics as the civil rights, antiwar, environmental, and women's movements. The section "Radical Culture" treats such people as Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, and Pete Seeger. Biographies of linguist Noam Chomsky, attorney William Kunstler, anarchist Paul Goodman, and democratic socialist Michael Harrington are among those included in the section "Visions of Alternative Societies." Some of the subjects, such as Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, got lots of media attention then and now; others, like James Weinstein and Heather Booth, are not as well known. A general essay by DeLeon, a historian at Howard University, prefaces each section. Black-and-white photographs are provided for subjects, and there are bibliographies at the end of each entry and at the ends of the introductory essays. Some subjects could fit in more than one chapter (Angela Davis and several other black activists are in the "Visions" chapter), but an index solves this problem. Those who experienced this era will find this book interesting, but it is also important for younger readers, who need to know that the sixties weren't just about Woodstock, bell bottoms, and LSD. Sandy Whiteley

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