The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties (The Politically Incorrect Guides) [Paperback]

Jonathan Leaf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2009

Get ready to break on through to the other side as critically-acclaimed playwright and journalist Jonathan Leaf reveals the politically incorrect truth about one of the most controversial decadesin history - the 1960s. Life was more 'square' than 'groovy' and Dean Martin was topping the Billboard charts - not Jimmy Hendrix. In this blast from the past, Leaf exposes the lies and busts the myths propagated by the liberal establishment. Did you know: the civil rights movement did little to improve the lives of average African Americans; most Americans actively supported the Vietnam War and the draft; "My Fair Lady" was one of the most popular albums during the 1960s; "The Politically Incorrect Guide[trademark] to the Sixties" proves the anti-Vietnam War sentiment and free love slogans that supposedly 'defined' the decade were just a small part of the leftist counter culture. The mainstream culture was more politically incorrect-but you'll never hear that from a liberal pundit or read it in a politically correct textbook.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Has any decade been more mythologized than the 1960s? I doubt it. Read Jonathan Leaf, who corrects and debunks the conventional wisdom and who also teaches us interesting and important things about that time, and ours. --William Kristol, editor, Weekly Standard

Jonathan Leaf almost makes the 60s worth it in this merciless debunking of the myths of our decade of shame. Fun, informed, and above all valuable. --Rich Lowry, editor, National Review --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Inside Flap

When you think of the 1960s, what images come to mind? Most people think of rock music and psychedelic drugs, youthful rebellion and draft dodging, long hair and protest marches. But is that really what the sixties were all about?

Absolutely not, says Jonathan Leaf. In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties, Leaf busts the biggest myth of all about that decade: that it was defined by radical politics and cultural upheaval. From popular music to college politics to fashion, he demonstrates that throughout the 1960s America remained a deeply conservative country, with disturbances and protests confined to a small minority of agitators who are now wrongly hailed in our politically correct textbooks as the dominant voice of their generation.

Mainstream America resisted the encroachments of the counterculture, Leaf shows. It was the Vietnam veterans, not the antiwar radicals, who expressed the values held throughout most of the country. What's more, contrary to popular belief, the vaunted sexual revolution never occurred in the sixties, and rock 'n' roll was not king. In this rollicking, provocative book, you'll discover that in the 1960s:

* Most college students rejected radical politics
* President Kennedy was not the dashing, progressive hero of liberal lore
* The economic condition of blacks became much worse after the passage of landmark civil rights legislation
* Manned space flights were a politicized boondoggle

If you think Woodstock and the Acid Tests were events that defined a generation, you'll be singing a new tune after reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties--and it won't be The Grateful Dead.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596985720
• ISBN-13: 978-1596985728
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The antidote I've been waiting for to arm my kids against 60s-worship, July 31, 2009

By 

Mark Rutherford "Mark Rutherford" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

For decades I've been telling people that America in the "sixties" were not what the media depicts as the sixties, but a much more complicated place - that people with long hair (like I had) walking along the road in a place like Vermont in 1969 (the sixties didn't get more "late" than 1969) had beer cans thrown at them, where in most parts of the country and for most years of the decade, the "sixties" was no more than a ripple disturbing the surface.
Leaf's book is invaluable at providing the facts and figures and anecdotes that show that I was right - that I wasn't dreaming. Of course it's an immense subject, but Leaf writes authortitavely and wittily about a well-chosen range of subjects.
The highest praise I can give it is that my little girls, aged 13 and 15, have taken it up to their room and are poring over it - and laughing over what their school teachers (too young to have experienced the decade) have been solemnly misinforming them about for years.
Get it and save your children's sanity and intellect - and if you are a child of the sixties, the soundness of your own memory.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "If you remember the sixties, you weren't really there", August 2, 2009

By 

Carl (Falls Church, Vatican City State (Holy See)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

If this Robin Williams line is true, so is its corollary: If you where there, you don't really remember it. Baby Boomers all were there and in too many cases they were formed by that decade and what they recall of it. And it turns out they really don't remember it. As long as the Largest Generation retains the commanding heights of much cultural and academic production, that is a problem.

Jonathan Leaf's The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties is part of the solution. In 13 short, yet devastating, chapters covering everything from the sexual revolution to movies to Camelot to the nascent conservative movement, he demonstrates conclusively that everything most people think they know when asked about the Sixties is wrong.

Each of the phenomena described as universal Sixties experiences either occurred principally in earlier decades (e.g., civil rights, feminism), later decades (e.g., rock and roll), existed only a fringe or elite phenomenon (e.g., hippies and Haight-Ashbury), or is remembered in such a distorted or incomplete way as to approach falsehood (e.g., the moon landing, Camelot, many more). Just learning the facts about these well justifies buying and reading this book.

But even readers familiar the actual events of the Sixties will find reading rewarding. First, there is the author's erudite and accessible style which will occasion more than frequent chuckles even when recounting familiar facts. Second, the book is filled with facets and sidelights which will come as enlightening surprises even to those consider themselves well-informed.

For example, Malcolm X was a gay hustler--did that chapter of his Autobiography get cut? César Chávez and Tom Tancredo would have seen eye to eye on illegal immigration--does the University of California know that it closes down for a day every year to honor what most of its constituencies would consider a "hatemonger"?

Every baby boomer with a tendency to reminisce along the lines of the stereotypical images of the Sixties needs to read this highly entertaining debunking of Sixties mythologies. So should anybody who might come under their influence.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun, explains a lot!, August 7, 2009

By 

S. Funke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

I always wondered how my parents managed to miss the Sixties. According to Jonathan Leaf, they were in very good company. Easy to read, fun, disturbing, and provocative, PIC '60s offers a counter weight for those of us who didn't live through America's best promoted, least experienced decade.