The Global Imagination of 1968 Revolution and Counterrevolution

With discussions of more than 50 countries, Katsiaficas articulates an understanding of the 1960s' social struggles not bound by national or continental divides nor focused on famous individuals. From the Prague revolt against Soviet communism to the French May uprising, the Vietnam Tet offensive, African anticolonial insurgencies, the civil rights movement, and campus eruptions in Latin America, Yugoslavia, and the United States, this book portrays the movements of the ‘60s as intuitively tied together. Student movements challenged authorities in almost every country, giving the insurgency a global character. As uprisings occur with increasing frequency in the 21st century, the lessons of 1968 provide useful insights for future struggles.

A student of Herbert Marcuse, George Katsiaficas is the author of The Subversion of Politics and Asia’s Unknown Uprisings. Together with Kathleen Cleaver, he coedited Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party. Kathleen Cleaver is former communications secretary and first woman on the central committee of the Black Panther Party. A longtime activist for human rights, she is currently a professor of law at Emory University. Carlos Muñoz played a prominent role in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. He is a Vietnam War–era veteran, a member of Veterans for Peace, and an active part of the immigrant rights movement.