Freedom Summer

I'm glad I have a hardcopy to share as the paperback recently received was exorbitant marked and written in, making it not worth reading.

Freedom Summer attempts to explain who gets involved in high-risk political action, and how their experience shapes their economic and personal decisions. McAdam uses the 1964 "Freedom Summer" program, where primarily Northern, white college students descended on Mississippi to register black voters. The experiences of the volunteers serve as a microchasm of the politics of the era; the lingering influence of the conservative 1950's with its fears of communism and idealized suburban nuclear families through the turbulent 1960's, and the collapse of the multi-racial civil rights movement into various atomized social movements - feminism, environmentalism, and of course, the anti-war movement. The methodology here is fascinating in and of itself: McAdam obtained the original applications for the Freedom Summer program, and used them to track down both those who did and did not go to Mississippi that fateful summer. This allowed him to demonstrate not only how people are motivated to participate, but the difference that such participation can make on future life choices, not only for political engagement, but employment and even marriage. Along the way, he shatters some of the mythology about the baby boomers - especially the idea that everyone shed their love beads and picket signs for lattes and SUVs. However, he also is careful not to glorify the volunteers, many of whom found adjusting to life outside of "the movement" to be a difficult process (an issue McAdam handles with care and dignity). Perhaps what is most admirable about this book, however, is that it gives a fresh view on the 1960's, an era that has been written about ad nauseum, and manages to do so in a way that is both academically sound (McAdam is a sociologist at Stanford) and easily accessible to a non-academic audience. Be sure to read the appendices as well as the main text; he includes SNCC's "incident list" detailing the daily litany of harassment and violence that the volunteers faced daily. It is especially chilling, not only for the savagery it details, but the matter-of-fact tone in which it is recorded. Highly recommended.

This book should be required reading for any of us crusty old lefties. A nice reminder (along with Martin Luther King Jr's "Why We Can't Wait") that sometimes with enough strength and drive, we can make the impossible possible. A great recounting, not only of the civil rights movement, but also the emerging New Left philosophy. Rich and detailed to earn a place as a university textbook, but still as plainspoken and accessible as to be read by anyone. Highly recommended.