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Oregon Darlings Press
The 60s: Crazy, But in a Beautiful Way
The 60s: Crazy, But in a Beautiful Way
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The Sixties, Crazy But in a Beautiful Way. The revolutionary expansion of consciousness and personal freedom/choice that cascaded into American culture 1967-69, but really over the whole 1960s and early 70s. Roots in beat culture, movies, Elvis, alternative thought by Euro authors. The push from Civil Rights, Kennedys, the unjust, immoral Vietnam War, but above all by the fact that millions of people under 30 took the life-changing entheogen LSD, allowing a vision of higher consciousness, peace of earth, brotherhood of man and the real possibility that, if this was happening among a whole generation, it could happen to all humanity, realizing an age-old dream of paradise on earth.
Personal tales of rock concerts, communes, hitchhiking, Hair, free love, the immense changes in how men and women loved each other (with spiritual depth and greatly increased communication), our new role in determining our political future, the heartbreak of assassinations of leaders who loved peace.
Written with humor, wit, incisive understanding, from the point of view of a journalist and social commentator who met the Kennedys and reported on their (and McCarthy's) hopeful campaigns. The style is only occasional rhetorical ranting, but mostly with a deep sense of compassion and hope for our generation, our parents and a culture that didn't know any better than to be racist, sexist, eco-trashing, with endless wars. The book is prompted by the common cultural perception of the 60s as civil rights, Vietnam, Kennedys, assassinations, riots and drugs, with little real understanding of the journey of young, middle-class youth and their consciousness changes. They are simply a visual cliche now, of a long-haired couple of flower children giving the peace sign by a VW van with flowers all over it. It was deeper than that. We changed the world and opened the doors of perception to a hope that didn't die, but continues to reassert itself with the incessant possibility of positive visions, such as green-sustainable building, the internet (connecting all people, with no government or corporate domination), gay marriage, Earth Day, action against climate change, the fall of Communism, on and on. We hippies took down the walls of a Dark Age that still lingered in 1960 and made life quite boring, miserable and bereft of real hope. This is an on-the-ground telling of that story.
Personal tales of rock concerts, communes, hitchhiking, Hair, free love, the immense changes in how men and women loved each other (with spiritual depth and greatly increased communication), our new role in determining our political future, the heartbreak of assassinations of leaders who loved peace.
Written with humor, wit, incisive understanding, from the point of view of a journalist and social commentator who met the Kennedys and reported on their (and McCarthy's) hopeful campaigns. The style is only occasional rhetorical ranting, but mostly with a deep sense of compassion and hope for our generation, our parents and a culture that didn't know any better than to be racist, sexist, eco-trashing, with endless wars. The book is prompted by the common cultural perception of the 60s as civil rights, Vietnam, Kennedys, assassinations, riots and drugs, with little real understanding of the journey of young, middle-class youth and their consciousness changes. They are simply a visual cliche now, of a long-haired couple of flower children giving the peace sign by a VW van with flowers all over it. It was deeper than that. We changed the world and opened the doors of perception to a hope that didn't die, but continues to reassert itself with the incessant possibility of positive visions, such as green-sustainable building, the internet (connecting all people, with no government or corporate domination), gay marriage, Earth Day, action against climate change, the fall of Communism, on and on. We hippies took down the walls of a Dark Age that still lingered in 1960 and made life quite boring, miserable and bereft of real hope. This is an on-the-ground telling of that story.
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