The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties

December 15, 2009
In this fact-based and well-balanced overview, journalist/playwright Leaf debunks popular myths and assumptions about the 1960s. His deep and wide-ranging research delves into campus unrest, politics, rock'n'roll, fashion, hippie culture, and, in the most illuminating section, the Vietnam War and its protesters. Unfortunately, the lack of modulation in newcomer Rick Silversmith's narration belies the fascinating and provocative aspects of this work. Still, fans of James W. Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" or anyone interested in a fresh look at this mythologized and romanticized decade will find much to ponder here.Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In the ever-maddening series of Politically Incorrect Guides, author/playwright Leaf takes on the most sacred of cows, particularly in the hearts and minds of Baby Boomers: the sixties. Leaf's purpose is to debunk the fiction that the decade was all peace, love, and flowers. Despite the book's truisms, however, the sixties were ultimately too complex a time to define with such generalities. But that doesn't make Leaf's well-researched refutations any less interesting. Rick Silversmith's voice is smoky and guttural--he makes the words snap, elongating syllables for emphasis, delivering the text with a certain angry earnestness that would sound equally at home in a dramatic context. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine