Customer Reviews

Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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FREEDOM'S ORATOR is a superb book about a major figure from the 1960s. As an historian, I've thought many times about the mysterious process by which certain people appear and seem to be made for their moment, by reason of personal qualities of high principle, magnetism and decency. Mario Savio was such a person in Berkeley in 1964, and this book helps us to understand why and how he was so important. Moreover, it illuminates the sources of his activism. But it is not uncritical. In fact, I think that Cohen does a wonderful job of analyzing Savio's demons as well as as his strengths. Highly recommended.

Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s is a simply outstanding biography of a true American hero.

I was very disappointed by the book and decided not to finish it, because I was so disappointed. This is actually written like a textbook, so if you like reading textbooks, you would still enjoy it because it does provide a lot of information. However, I was hoping for more of a biography which would bring this wonderful and interesting character alive. The book mostly just lists well documented facts about Mario Savio, but it does not really get you to feel like you know him. If you are like me and would prefer a book that would bring the person more to life, then this is not the book for you. If you like dry, drawn out, excessively wordy textbooks, then you'd like this book. wish i could get my money back. I'll donate it to friends of the library anyway. I was going to pass it along to my son, but it is not that enjoyable of a book to read.

I found this a most readable and enlightening study of a man whom I had only a superficial knowledge of previously, having observed him in action back in 1960's Berkeley, and found him if anything rather incoherent. But Cohen gives him depth, and produces a well-roudned stiudy of a most interesting figure, supported by extensive research.