Time It Was: American Stories from the Sixties

What was it like to live through the Sixties? The writers of these 27 memoirs offer the essence of life and youth in the period. In first-person narratives that range from poignant reminiscences to dramatic adventures, the writers convey what it felt like to land a helicopter in the middle of a firefight in Vietnam, to be beaten and jailed for trying to integrate restaurants in the American South, to run for cover when soldiers opened fire on a campus peace rally in Ohio. Other stories describe the writers' experiences organizing farm workers with Cesar Chavez, campaigning to elect Barry Goldwater, striking for Free Speech at Berkeley, living in a commune, joining the women's liberation movement, becoming caught up in a religious cult, or camping in the rain at Woodstock.

Table of Contents:
I. Vietnam Introduction Wayne Coe: “Blackhawk Five Four” Episodes in the life of a U.S. helicopter pilot Paul Coe: “Letters Home” A draftee writes to his family from Vietnam Leah O’Leary: “The GIs Called Us Donut Dollies” A Red Cross volunteer in Vietnam Tim Koster: “United States Blues” The Draft Lottery and an unlucky birthday Ngoc Quang Huynh: “A Life in Flight” Escaping post-war Vietnam II. Struggles for Social Justice Introduction Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons: “Mama Told Me Not to Go” Working with SNCC in Mississippi, Freedom Summer 1964 Raymond Hubbard: “Deep in the Heart” Growing up black in the Jim Crow South Sara Evans: “Not My Mother’s Path” A historian traces her journey to Women’s Liberation Toby Marotta: “Students of Stonewall” Encountering the militant Gay Liberation movement Yolanda Retter Vargas: “Sisterhood is Possible” The life of a feminist Latina lesbian. Johnny Flynn: “Something in the Wind” Spiritual renewal in the American Indian Movement. III. Pathways Introduction Tom Collins: “Hope House” Volunteer tutoring with Upward Bound, 1965-1966 John Manners: “The Peace Corps: Kenya, 1968-1972” Teaching school in Africa Jim Fadiman: “Opening the Doors of Perception” Psychedelics and research in the Sixties Steve Diamond: “Back to the Land” A search for simplicity and spiritual health Karen Smith: “The Process” Five years in a New Age religious cult IV. Conservative Currents Introduction John Werlich: Born on the Fourth of July The making of a conservative Robert Poole: Libertarian Awakening Campus conservative movements and the 1964 “Goldwater for President” campaign Ron McCoy: “It Ain’t Me Babe: Working for Richard Nixon” An insider’s view of RichardNixon’s 1968 Republican presidential campaign. Gerald Scott: “War on Drugs: A View From the Trenches” Undercover in the DEA V. Landmark Events Introduction Pat Royse: “Fire in the Streets” Reporting on the Cleveland Riots, July 1966. Tara Gordon: “Chicago ‘68” Innocence and violence at the Democratic Convention. Sheila Lennon: “Three Days of Peace and Music” Remembering the Woodstock Concert, 1969 Carole Barbato and Laura Davis “Ordinary Lives: May 4, 1970” Two students recall the shootings at Kent State VI. Speaking Out Introduction Jackie Goldberg: “Sit Down! Sit Down!” The Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley Maria and Antonia Saludado: “Standing With Cesar” Women in the United Farm Workers Movement Sam Lovejoy: “Somebody’s Got to Do It” Anti-Nuclear Activism and Civil Disobedience

About the Author :
Karen Manners Smith, Emporia State University Tim Koster, Pacific Information Resources, Inc. dba Search Systems