Prairie Radical A Journey Through the Sixties [Paperback]

Robert Pardun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Prairie Radical: A Journey Through the Sixties is the memoir of a young man whose life was radically changed when he joined the civil rights movement and spoke out against the war in Vietnam. It is a grass-roots inside history of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the largest student organization of the 1960s, as seen by one of its national officers who spent 1967-68 in the SDS national office, at the height of the antiwar movement It is also a history of the vibrant and innovative SDS chapter at the University of Texas in Austin, one of the Prairie Power strongholds, where the cultural rebellion and the political movement were united. Robert Pardun’s story of that tumultuous period is set within the context of what was happening in Vietnam and interwoven with what we now know was happening inside the government and the FBI. The book is illustrated with photos, posters, and FBI documents.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I decided to write Prairie Radical because I found that most histories of the sixties say very little about the day-to-day activities on the local level or about the lives of the individuals involved. The movement was, after all, the combination of thousands of local movements each made up of individuals who were willing to risk their lives and careers to end injustice, racism, and the Vietnam War. It was on the local level that the strategy and tactics for reaching new people were developed and where the connections between the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the women’s and other liberation movements, and the counter-culture were forged. I hope that this “history with a human face” helps people experience the passion of that decade rather than just learning what happened.

About the Author

Robert Pardun was born in Kansas and raised on the edge of the prairie in Pueblo, Colorado. As a graduate student, he was a founder of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter at the University of Texas in 1964, became a regional SDS organizer, and then an SDS national officer in 1967-68, which put him in the SDS national office at the height of the antiwar movement. After the collapse of SDS, he spent 1971-76 on a commune in the Ozarks. Robert recently served as associate producer of the critically acclaimed documentary film on SDS, Rebels with a Cause, and is one of the people interviewed in the film. Robert now lives in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Shire Pr (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918828201
• ISBN-13: 978-0918828200
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,603,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, December 9, 2001

By 

Cathy Wilkerson (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prairie Radical A Journey Through the Sixties (Paperback)

Fabulous book! Prairie Radical is fun to read, accurate and thoughtful. Why do ordinary young people do extraordinary things? Pardun shares his own upbringing in a mixed neighborhood in Pueblo, Colorado. His Dad "described himself as a conservative Republican which meant to him that he strongly believed in the conservation of the rights given to people by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights." He acted on those beliefs and raised a son who would as well. Pardun's journey takes him to Texas, where he became involved in Students for a Democratic Society while at the University of Texas, to Chicago, where he was a national officer of SDS, and finally to Arkansas, where he joined a late '60's back-to-the-land commune. His passion encompassed a range of issues during pivotal times. Better than any author I've read, Pardun develops and documents the crackling interaction between SDS's irrepressible enthusiam for justice, police and FBI secret dirty tricks (COINTELPRO), the growing battles over organizational structure and attempts by other groups to take over SDS. The book includes many photos of Texas activists at work and reproductions of SDS leaflets and FBI documents which give added dimension to Pardun's fascinating tale. One of the best books I've read about white radicals in the '60's. A must-read for anyone interested in social change.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great 1960s Memoir, November 16, 2001

By 

James W. Russell (Willimantic, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prairie Radical A Journey Through the Sixties (Paperback)

Robert Pardun's Prairie Radical is the best account
that I have read so far of the SDS experience and the
1960s historical context in which it occurred. I was active
in SDS in the Oklahoma and Wisconsin chapters and
worked in the National Office. From what I remember,
Pardun's memoir is faithful to what happened. More than
that, he has carefully reconstructed the issues that
people felt to be significant and described them in a
way that is both personable and engaging. I strongly
recommend this very well written book for students and
others who want to understand the history of the 1960s
and what it was like to be an activist in those
momentous times.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of a small grass-roots movement that grew into a primary source of social and political change., October 1, 2005

By 

Jerome L. Coggins "Jerry Coggins" (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prairie Radical A Journey Through the Sixties (Paperback)

"Prairie Radical" is an excellent and balanced description of the anti-war movement, through the eyes of one the the early leaders in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). As someone who came of age in the seventies, I've found this book very valuable in filling my gap of knowledge concerning the Vietnam antiwar movement, its relation to the civil rights movement, and the general political and cultural climate of the sixties. I find the ideas from Mr. Pardun's book echo quite strongly into the current U.S. foreign policy climate. I recommend this book for anyone interested in a "from the trenches" view of the sixties.