1968, Richard Vinen
1968, Richard Vinen
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1968
Radical Protest and Its Enemies

Author: Richard Vinen

Narrator: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Unabridged: 23 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/03/2018

Synopsis

A major new history of one of the seminal years in the postwar world, when rebellion and disaffection broke out on an extraordinary scale.The year 1968 saw an extraordinary range of protests across much of the western world. Some of these were genuinely revolutionary—around ten million French workers went on strike and the whole state teetered on the brink of collapse. Others were more easily contained, but had profound longer-term implications—terrorist groups, feminist collectives, gay rights activists could all trace important roots to 1968.1968 is a striking and original attempt half a century later to show how these events, which in some ways still seem so current, stemmed from histories and societies which are in practice now extraordinarily remote from our own time. 1968 pursues the story into the 1970s to show both the ever more violent forms of radicalization that stemmed from 1968 and the brutal reaction that brought the era to an end.

About Richard Vinen

Richard Vinen is a professor of history at King’s College London. He is the author of academic works, most recently National Service, 1945-1963, which won the 2015 Wolfson History Prize, as well as A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century, The Unfree French, and Thatcher's Britain.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Shrike58 on February 06, 2023

My initial reaction upon actually starting this book (it having been on various TBR lists for awhile), was that I might be wasting my time. To me, the promise was in the subtitle, as I was wondering who in particular Vinen might be referring to in terms of "enemies." It turns out that said enemies w......more

Goodreads review by Brendan on May 12, 2020

While this is a rather broad overview of the events of 1968 that altogether skips (no mention of the Prague Spring whatsoever) or minimizes (one mention of Situationists in the entire text, and that one mention not in the chapter on France) a lot of details I would have enjoyed the inclusion of, it......more

Goodreads review by Julian on October 28, 2023

More of a survey of 1968 than a history, although there were some good stories that were told in each of the topics. Mr. Vinen sums up 1968 as a year of change, some big and some small, depending on where and who you were. Not all change and revolution are consistent across countries, but 1968 is a......more

Goodreads review by Umar on March 31, 2022

1968 is a year of long been fascinated with. Global protest, political and social change, and a counterattack from forces opposing emerging movements. This book was interesting at times, and I learned some new things, but overall this big was too broad to have any real depth. This isn't the last boo......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on January 17, 2019

A bit too thorough. Its organization wasn't great. The chapters of interest were thoughtful.......more

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