or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
62 used & new from $3.56

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation (Paperback)

~ (Author) "EUGENE McCarthy would seek the Democratic nomination for president in 1968 because of the War in Vietnam; after a painful interval, Robert Kennedy would emulate..." (more)
Key Phrases: bombing halt, recorded interview, New York, New Hampshire, Lyndon Johnson (more...)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.00
Price: $10.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.80 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Thursday, November 12? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
27 new from $8.39 35 used from $3.56

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- $11.50 $0.01
  Paperback $10.20 $8.39 $3.56

Frequently Bought Together

1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation + 1968: The Year That Rocked the World + 1968 with Tom Brokaw (History Channel)
Price For All Three: $44.25

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: 1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation by Charles Kaiser

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • 1968: The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • 1968 with Tom Brokaw (History Channel) DVD ~ Tom Brokaw

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

1968 with Tom Brokaw (History Channel)

1968 with Tom Brokaw (History Channel)

DVD ~ Tom Brokaw
3.8 out of 5 stars (11)  $22.49
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

by Todd Gitlin
4.1 out of 5 stars (12)  $14.28
Time 1968: War Abroad, Riots at Home, Fallen Leaders and Lunar Dreams - The Year that Changed the World (with CD)

Time 1968: War Abroad, Riots at Home, Fallen Leaders and Lunar Dreams - The Year that Changed the World (with CD)

by Editors of Time Magazine
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $11.66
The Times Were a Changin': The Sixties Reader

The Times Were a Changin': The Sixties Reader

by Debi Unger
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $11.56
The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America

The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America

by Jules Witcover
4.1 out of 5 stars (13)  $45.00
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kaiser has no ideological ax to grind, which is refreshing, but in beckoning us to re-experience the idealism, chaos and exuberance of the 1960sand of 1968 in particularhe keeps tripping over his overheated prose. He was a Columbia freshman in 1968 and has been a reporter for the New York Times , Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal . The political shockwaves of the Vietnamese Tet offensive, the rise of black militancy, the loosening effect of rock 'n' roll and the end of the liberal consensus in America are among the phenomena related with a wealth of simmering incident and detail. Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign (for which the author was a volunteer worker) gets an excessive amount of space. The impact of the Beatles on history, as measured here, seems about as great as that of Martin Luther Kingor Nixon. This impressionistic montage ultimately succumbs to its lack of viewpoint. It's a juicy look back, replete with interviews, but a number of recent books cover the same ground much better. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

Charles Kaiser’s 1968 in America is widely recognized as one of the best historical accounts of the 1960s. This book devotes equal attention to the personal and the political — and speaks with authority about such diverse figures as Bob Dylan, Eugene McCarthy, Janis Joplin, and Lyndon Johnson.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Grove Press (September 24, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0802135307
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802135308
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #635,057 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Kaiser
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Charles Kaiser Page

Inside This Book (learn more)



Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
Vietnam by Stanley Karnow
Fulbright by Randall Bennett Woods
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation
59% buy the item featured on this page:
1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation 3.7 out of 5 stars (7)
$10.20
1968: The Year That Rocked the World
17% buy
1968: The Year That Rocked the World 3.6 out of 5 stars (40)
$11.56
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
6% buy
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage 4.1 out of 5 stars (12)
$14.28
Time 1968: War Abroad, Riots at Home, Fallen Leaders and Lunar Dreams - The Year that Changed the World (with CD)
6% buy
Time 1968: War Abroad, Riots at Home, Fallen Leaders and Lunar Dreams - The Year that Changed the World (with CD) 4.0 out of 5 stars (3)
$11.66

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A misleading title, but a good book for political buffs, May 31, 2001
By A Customer
Charles Kaiser's "1968 In America" is going to be a big disappointment to those who bought it thinking that they would learn a great deal about the culture and music of the sixties. Only one chapter of the book looks at the music and counterculture of the sixties in any detail, and the other chapters only briefly mention them. Anyone who wants to learn more about sixties music and the counterculture should look elsewhere. But if you're a political buff like me then this book should be a delight. The great majority of this book is taken up with describing the bitter fight for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1968. It was a fight that came down to four men: President Lyndon Johnson, whose policies in Vietnam had turned many Americans against him(especially the young), but who still had the support of the old-fashioned big-city mayors who used to run the Democratic Party, but whose influence even in 1968 was declining. Waiting in the wings if Johnson withdrew was his talkative Vice-President, Hubert Humphrey. But the real focus of the book is on Eugene McCarthy, the eloquent, intellectual, but also enigmatic and curiously passive Senator from Minnesota. Many people disliked McCarthy and considered him to be a snob and too "lazy" to be President, but as Kaiser demonstrates it was McCarthy who had the guts to join the antiwar movement and oppose Johnson when most of the "experts" thought it was political suicide. McCarthy's gamble paid off when he nearly defeated Johnson in New Hampshire, giving the President a death blow which led to his sudden withdrawal from the campaign a couple of months later. However, McCarthy's surprise showing led Bobby Kennedy, the "Prince-in-Waiting" to enter the race. This triggered a bitter, no-holds-barred war of words and emotions between McCarthy and Kennedy and their supporters. In the end this fight became so nasty that it would probably have prevented either man from beating Vice-President Humphrey at the Democratic Convention. But then Kennedy's murder in Los Angeles in June 1968 following his narrow victory over McCarthy in the California primary changed the race all over again, and gave, Kaiser argues, McCarthy one last chance to win the nomination. Typically, McCarthy procrastinated and quoted poetry while Humphrey wooed the delegates he needed to win. The book loses much of its passion after that, and Kaiser's description of the fall campaign between Humphrey and his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, isn't nearly as interesting as his descriptions of the McCarthy-Kennedy feud. In short, if you like politics you'll love this book, and if you don't - well, then don't buy it.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, but biased., November 2, 1999
By A Customer
This book was fun to read, but should not be portrayed as a total representation of 1968 in America. Kaiser was very obviously a liberal, more specifically a McCarthy supporter, and much of his book focuses on this. The reader gains a great insight into what it was like on the McCarthy campaign trail. But there is significantly less focus on the other candidates at this time. 1968 is very focused on politics, but the references to music, culture, and the idea of revolution were great. Kaiser should have spent more focus on these topics. 1968 is a good read, but take it at face value, one man's veiw of the times.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Evocation of an Era and its Critical Year, October 11, 2009
Kaiser beautifully evokes the era -- the love, the fear, the confusion, the hope, the madness... he really makes you feel like you're there. And the parallels to what's going on today -- particularly between the way the fear of being labeled "soft on communism" led to disaster in Vietnam then, and the way the fear of being labeled "soft on terrorism" has led to disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan today, is stunning. Not an aspect of the book I would have wanted to describe as timely, but unfortunately, it is. Read this book and you'll feel like you are there -- and that there is a lot less far away than you might think.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A great look @ 1968, the year that shaped the generation
This book gives a great outline of 1968-- specifically the antiwar movement at Columbia University starting on April 23, 1968. Read more
Published on April 18, 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars Big Subject -- Tiny Book
Does a good job of presenting the outlook of a white, Jewish, liberal college student living in New York in 1968. Read more
Published on July 20, 2000

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading title, too peripheral (hope I spelled that right)
I finished this book fairly quickly, and I came away from it feeling like I had a decent overview of the atmosphere in America during 1968, but that I had not learned anything... Read more
Published on July 18, 2000 by bkmchorse

5.0 out of 5 stars The Days of Rage Revisited
All I can say is this book gives great insight to the days of rage and the backround leading up to the reign of terror in America. Read more
Published on August 17, 1999

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.