The Sixties is the decade that won’t go away, and for good reason — its aftershocks are still being felt, and every new re-interpretation of that tumultuous time (I hesitate to say “decade” because the boundaries of the whole idea of “the sixties” are endless) helps us better understand where we are now—even if some of the cliches of the period have become hopelessly trivialized, mostly by right wing ideologues.
Enter Clara Bingham, a former White House correspondent for Newsweek, who’s previous books include a history of the first sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. This book — an oral history over 500 pages long — sets its sights on the 12 months between August 1969 and August 1970, a novel concept considering the events that transpired in that period, from Woodstock and the Manson murders, to the FBI killing of Black Panther Fred Hampton, the Altamont festival (Woodstock’s dark side), the first Earth Day, the breaking-out of Timothy Leary from prison, the Weathermen blowing up their own New York headquarters, Kent State, Nixon’s secret bombing of Cambodia, student strikes, protests, feminism, and the ascendence of once-mortal rock gods like Neil Young (who wrote the time period’s anthem, “Ohio,” on the heels of the Kent massacre in the best tribunal spirt of bards and balladeers alike). Obviously it was an extremely fertile period for social unrest, making Witness a great concept. But why now, and why Bingham?
