Reclaiming Democracy: The Sixties in Politics and Memory

by Meta Mendel-Reyes

Overview

Meta Mendel-Reyes provides a critical look at our fascination with the sixties, discusses the ways in which democratic participation was at the heart of sixties politics, and explores the interrelationship between the history and memory of the sixties and contemporary democratic politics.

Mendel-Reyes stresses that if told properly, the story of the sixties could help open our eyes to the possibility that ordinary people can take democratic action and do have the ability to make a difference in nineties politics.

In a time of cynicism about the American government's ability to solve the crises of inequality, poverty and racism, Mendel-Reyes puts the decline of political participation in historical context and provides hope for the coming decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781136673887
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	238
File size:	694 KB

About the Author

Meta Mendel-Reyes is Assistant Professor of Political Science, and the Director of the Democracy Project, at Swarthmore College.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Remembering Democracy; Chapter 2 “The True Democracy”; Chapter 3 Remembering the Sixties; Chapter 4 “Is This America?”; conclusion Conslusion;

Editorial Reviews

Part personal memoir of the author's experiences as a labor organizer in the 1970s, part scholarly analysis of the 1960s political and social movements (Civil Rights, anti-Vietnam War protests), and part cheerleading for the value of participatory democracy in the future of America, this well-written but repetitive extended essay argues that the 1960s' main legacy to the 1990s lies in the idea of participatory politics. Though Mendel-Reyes, a college political science instructor, is critical of the decade's excesses and weaknesses-disorganization, mindlessness, self-destructiveness-she believes that the remarkable achievements of the Civil Rights movement in destroying legal segregation and the peace movement in ending the Vietnam War were due to the involvement of so many Americans in the process of political change. Though earnestly urging Americans to extract from U.S. history the spirit of participatory democracy, she offers little guidance on how to do this. An ambivalent defense of the 1960s mixed with a strong statement of political belief; for academic and larger public libraries.-Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego

Library Journal

The three-volume set collects for reprint original essays, diary entries, and biographical recollections written by contemporaries and sometimes friends of Shelley, Byron, and Wordsworth. An important source for romantic poetry scholars, the writings provide insights into the lives of the three artists without the inevitable jadedness a contemporary critique must bring (to be worth its salt) in a postmodern society. Each volume includes selected commentary and introductions written by scholars in the field. Lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"...the author argues that the civil rights and student campaigns of the 960s were firmly in the tradition of American democracy... this work argues thatthe secret of the 1960s may be that participation is not simply a cost of citizenship but is also integral to the process of building cummunity and therfore becomes a a benefit of civic life." -- Choice
"It is an exciting and dynamic book that comes at a time when the nation is forced to reexamine its priorities and continue to grapple with issues of social justice and equality." -- Byllye Avery, Founder, National Black Women's Health Project
"This is a terrific book. We need to re-learn some of the great lessons for the '60s -- that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, that we can change society for the better, that if we organize, the future is in our hands. This book helps us to understand why it matters to reclaim democracy, that it is possible to do, and provides some guidance for how it can be done." -- Heather Booth, President Midwest Academy and Paul Booth, Director of Organizing, AFSCME (Both former 60's activists)
"We live in the shadow of the 1960s. This brilliant, engaged and yet scholarly book not only recovers the history by bringing the sixties into the nineties, Meta Mendel-Reyes more importantly shows how it matters 'what our part is going to be'." -- Michael Rogin, University of California, Berkeley

From the Publisher