All the more valuable because of the wretched quality of most American press coverage of the 1968 French uprising, this journalistic sourcebook will reward informed observers as well as those who understood the May Days as a counterpart of ""riots"" or a simple recurrence of a French insurrectional tic. The editors' backgrounding is a bit superficial and the translation sometimes lacks finesse; but the interviewers are very intelligent, and it is the long interviews which make the book so interesting. Dealing chiefly with the student side of events, they offer remarks from Truffaut the filmmaker and Nobel prizewinner Kastler, as well as long exchanges with the sociologist Touraine. Barjonet the ex-CGT economist, and an impressively articulate student activist. The socio-political range is considerable: not only Malraux and Cohn-Bendit but Communist Party union spokesmen, Renault workers, lycee students and moderate professors are represented. There is an essay on the role of radio communications, a compilation of police atrocities and internal conflicts, and a supplementary essay on French universities. A glossary of organizations is provided, along with a chronology.