Reading Kurlansky
I was introduced to Mark Kurlansky when my wife, Beata, bought me Salt: A World History. In this book Mark follows the powerful thread of the influence of salt on world history, with many interesting connections to the evolution of food and political geography. Later, I read pieces of Mark's book on non-violence, Non-Violence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea, again learning things of which I was previously unaware.
Recently, I have been reading his 2004 book 1968: the year that rocked the world. I believe that it is a book that everyone should read, for Mark's illumination of that singular year is very useful to anyone thinking about freedom and change, about renaissance. And that is something everyone should think about, and act upon.
I was too young and sheltered to really have grappled with events at the time. In September, 1968 I turned 7 years old and entered first grade. I remember my father coming home deeply disturbed by the fact that the Chicago police were brutally attacking blacks. I also remember the day he was not able to get to work downtown because of the riots. On the other side of things, there was the reverence with which the Weekly Reader, given to us to read at school, treated president elect Nixon. (This may have been in second grade in 1969, when he was president.) But for the greatest part, my life was sheltered. The only visceral connection I had with the times was the fact that, as vegetarians in the midwest -- an oddity, the hippie vegetarians somehow seemed like comrades, even if at a distance. In hindsight, the fact that my parents were more enlightened in how they accepted the different, the odd, the out of step individuals also had a resonance with those times.
But the fact that in many ways I missed those times is irrelevant, for I am deeply concerned with creativity, with freedom upon which creativity depends. And the spirit of freedom emerged in a singularly undeniable way in 1960's. That spirit was interpreted, made visible by those who were receptive to it, in a rich diversity of ways, many of which are still playing out; for events like 1968 can only be fully understood through their propagation, their ripple forward in time.
Freedom is today an even bigger issue. The current War on Terror, supposedly defending our freedoms, is in fact at war with our freedoms. In an article on why we must resist the current paranoia, Mark gives voice to an imperative we must all own, put into action, if we are not to fall into a darkness that always follows when freedoms are released in response to fear.
And finally, when you do buy 1968, buy it from an independent, local bookstore -- sustain and promote the diversity and freedom in your own community.