Product Description

The 1960s is a decade often seen through a rose-tinted lens: an era when the young would not only rule the world but change it, too, for the better. But does such fond nostalgia really stand up? Vivid, rich in anecdote, sometimes angry and always persuasive, The Sixties Unplugged is a hugely entertaining and authoritative account of the decade of myth and madness. Read it and remember that even if you weren’t there, you can still find out what really happened.

'A fabulous history of the decade that lacks the usual nostalgia. Gerard DeGroot explores the period with all its horrors from the Chinese Cultural Revolution to the failure of the super powers in the Six-Day War. He does catalogue the free love and flower power festivals but in sharp contrast to the ethnic cleansing in Jakarta and the real threat of nuclear war. This is a really important book to put perspective on such a formative decade and remove some of the romance.' The Bookseller

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #360041 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
'A thought-provoking study'
--Big Issue in the North

Bookseller
'This is a really important book to put perspective on such a formative decade and remove some of the romance.'

Literary Review
'It is refreshing to read [a book] that takes a mercifully clear-sighted view of the decade.'

Customer Reviews

Springboard
deGroot's kaleidoscope approach is really interesting and one of the reasons I picked up this book. He takes different aspects of the 60s, loosely groups them together and then writes about particular events/people/subjects in short essays, so there's no straight chronological history writing as such.

He picks up on things that are perhaps less explored in other histories but strangely makes a few glaring omissions, in particular the Manson murders at the end of the decade. This is one of the pivotal events, from the point of view of the 60s hippie idyll going horribly wrong and ushering in a much darker time in the 70s. He could have certainly put it in after his essay about Altamont. Curious as to why he didn't.

deGroot writes angrily about the shortcomings of the people in the 60s - and he finds plenty. When he writes about the free love and drugs culture starting out as a means of true political protest and then becoming not a means to an end but the end itself, he has very interesting and valid points, but they are often written with what seems like a chip on his shoulder.

One extremely annoying thing about this book is when he is writing about the commercialisation of Che Guevara and he spikily writes about Ben & Jerry naming an ice cream after him - Cherry Guevara. Um, no, that would be Cherry Garcia, after the leader of the Grateful Dead. Two totally different people. Just puts the seed of doubt in my mind - what else did he get wrong that I wouldn't know about? And why didn't an editor or fact-checker pick that up?

It's a good book to introduce you to aspects of the 60s that are perhaps being overlooked that you might want to research yourself elsewhere.

Excellent!
A superb antidote to the rose-tinted view of the 60s often trotted out in the media. I lived through the 60s and a lot of what deGroot writes is spot on, especially his view that many of the movements at that time were deeply sexist. I've always felt that the 60s led to the infantilisation of subsequent generations and that much of the radicalism and protest had at its root a 'me me me' philosophy about as sophisticated as that of your average obsterporous 4-year-old. This book has done nothing to change my mind.

By the way, contrary to what another reviewer writes, Ben and Jerry DO do an ice cream called Cherry Guevara. It states on the container, "The revolutionary struggle of the cherries was squashed as they were trapped between two layers of chocolate. May their memory live on in your mouth." As you finish the ice cream you're left with a wooden stick with the words "We will bite to the end!"

A highly enjoyable read
This book is well worth a read for anyone who is interested in the 1960s. Whilst there is no doubt that this decade brought about many major changes it also gave birth to a large amount of myths. Gerald DeGroot does a great job in debunking these myths. The book is written with more than a hint of cynicism and is both informative and easy to read.