The Imagination of the New Left: A Global Analysis of 1968
by George Katsiaficas
Overview:
The Imagination of the New Left brings to life the social movements and events of the 1960's that made it a period of world-historical importance: the Prague Spring; the student movements in Mexico, Japan, Sri Lanka, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Spain; the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and guerrilla movements in Latin America; the Democratic Convention in Chicago; the assassination of Martin Luther King; the near-revolution in France of May 1968; and the May 1970 student strike in the United States. Despite its apparent failure, the New Left represented a global transition to a newly defined culture and political epoch, and its impact continues to be felt today.
Reviews:
"It is heartening to see how George Katsiaficas, a radical who has neither dropped out nor burned out, and whose scholarly research grew out of his own activism as a student in the late sixties and early seventies, has incorporated in his own vision an enlarged sense of the necessity for 'genuine revolution [to be] based on the universal interest of the human species and of all life.'" - Denise Levertov
"This book is a must for those contemplating future struggle for change. It gives a vivid picture of what actually took place as well as an idea of where we fell short so that in the next stage of struggle we can build on strengths and weaknesses and grapple with the even more profound questions that face us as we approach the twenty-first century." - James and Grace Lee Boggs, co-authors of Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century