Summary of Mark Kurlansky's 1968

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In 1968, the world bid farewell to a violent year; New York City received snowfall. In Vietnam, the South Vietnamese and their American allies declared a twelve-hour truce for January 1. The People’s Liberation Armed Forces in South Vietnam, a pro–North Vietnamese guerrilla force, announced a seventy-two-hour cease-fire.

#2 France was enjoying a prosperous period after World War II. The economy was growing, and there was a rapid increase in the number of young people attending universities. De Gaulle was serene and optimistic about the country’s future.

#3 In 1968, black became the preferred term for the people. Negro had become a pejorative applied to those who would not stand up for themselves.

#4 The American police force was gearing up for war with the Black Power movement. In January 1968, 34-year-old playwright LeRoi Jones was sentenced to two and a half to three years in prison for illegal possession of two revolvers during the Newark riots the previous summer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822509474

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Insights on Mark Kurlansky's 1968

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1968, the world bid farewell to a violent year; New York City received snowfall. In Vietnam, the South Vietnamese and their American allies declared a twelve-hour truce for January 1. The People’s Liberation Armed Forces in South Vietnam, a pro–North Vietnamese guerrilla force, announced a seventy-two-hour cease-fire.

#2

France was enjoying a prosperous period after World War II. The economy was growing, and there was a rapid increase in the number of young people attending universities. De Gaulle was serene and optimistic about the country’s future.

#3

In 1968, black became the preferred term for the people. Negro had become a pejorative applied to those who would not stand up for themselves.

#4

The American police force was gearing up for war with the Black Power movement. In January 1968, 34-year-old playwright LeRoi Jones was sentenced to two and a half to three years in prison for illegal possession of two revolvers during the Newark riots the previous summer.

#5

In 1967, American casualties in Vietnam increased to 9,353 people, more than doubling the number of Americans who had been killed in the previous year. The war was taking a toll on the economy as well, costing an estimated $2 billion to $3 billion a month.

#6

In 1968, the American public was growing tired of the war, and government officials were beginning to realize it. They began to make up stories about the South Vietnamese army, trying to make it seem as though it were effective and worth fighting for.

#7

The antiwar movement was becoming more and more diverse, as draft-dodgers and rich kids alike joined the movement.

#8

In the first week of 1968, five men, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, the author and pediatrician, and the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr. , chaplain of Yale University, were indicted on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate the draft law.

#9

In 1967, the Democrats had talked about replacing Johnson in 1968, but incumbents are hard to remove in American political parties, and Robert Kennedy did not want to step in. In November 1967, McCarthy had said that he hoped his candidacy would cause dissidents to turn to the political process rather than the illegal protest to which they had been driven by discontent and frustration.

#10

The Vietnam War was not the only threat to peace in the 1960s. In West Africa, the most promising African state, oil-rich Nigeria, was descending into civil war between the ruling ethnic groups and the Ibo, who represented eight million of the twelve million people in a small eastern region called Biafra.

#11

In 1968, the students in Spain were becoming more politically involved in noncampus issues, especially trade unions and worker rights. The Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban urged the Arabs of the Middle East to assert their will and demand that their leaders negotiate a peace with Israel.

#12

The word Palestinian was first used in 1968 to refer to members of Arab guerrilla units, which were also frequently referred to in the Western press as terrorist organizations.

#13

In the first week of 1968, Bob Dylan was back after a year and a half of disappearance. His new album, John Wesley Harding, was welcomed by both critics and fans because it was full of folk-singing roots.

#14

In 1968, there were no limits or taboos on what people could wear. Conformity was out of style, and writers predicted