Student Resistance: A History of the Unruly Subject

Historically, students have been a riotous bunch. Long before wild spring breaks, medieval students waged battles with bows and arrows at the earliest universities, while Russian students made assassination attempts against the tsars. The legacy of campus unrest continues at the cusp of the 21st century with a new wave of student rebellion at home and abroad. Student Resistanceis an international history of student activism. Chronicling 500 years of strife between activists and the academy, Mark Edelman Boren unearths the defiant roots of the ivory tower. Whether through nonviolent protest or bloody insurrection, students have catalyzed educational reform, transformed national politics, and, in more than a few instances, spurredcoup d'etats. These acts of rebellion are inherent features in the advancement of knowledge, Boren argues, and there is much to learn from students fighting for reform. Drawing on major incidents of student activism, including Civil Rights protests in the US,the 1968 student riots in Paris, and Tiananmen Square, Boren shows that student resistance is a continually occurring and vital social phenomenon, world-wide. For those concerned with the increasingly public and complex role that universities play in society,Student Resistanceis essential reading.

Mark Edelman Boren teaches English at the University of North Carolina