LONG MARCH, SHORT SPRING: The Student Uprising at Home and Abroad

by Barbara & John Ehrenreich ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1969

Up against the wall, reader! Two American radicals, graduate students at New York's prestigious Rockefeller University, here report their findings on last year's student revolts in Germany, France, Italy, England, and the United States. Drawing from interviews with participants, they analyze in separate chapters the rise of each student movements and its future prospects, concluding with an essay developing a general theory of student activism. Though the Columbia University story has been better told, the chapters on the German and Italian uprisings contain a good deal of fresh and interesting historical material. The authors are not highly successful in producing a theory which covers both the European and American scene (as they admit, many European students really want what American students already have and are rejecting.) Occasionally given to sarcasm, and unswerving in their Marcusan perspective, the writers are uncritical of the revolutionaries' assumptions, and their repetitive assertions about ""capitalism"" will irritate some. But they do stand off, as experienced organizers, to question the half-hearted efforts of European students to reach the workers. And their own idealism and commitment are unmistakable. Briskly written, this is a good survey for those on either side of the barricades.

Pub Date: May 15, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Monthly Review Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION