1961-1969

The Sixties in America Reference Library presents a broad overview of the turbulent 1960s, a decade that forever changed the American social, political and cultural landscape.

"It's 1967, and eleven-year-old Ellis Earl Brown has big dreams. He's going to grow up to be a teacher or a lawyer--or maybe both--and live in a big brick house in town. There'll always be enough food in the icebox, and his mama won't have to run herself ragged looking for work as a maid in order to support Ellis Earl and his eight siblings and niece, Vera. So Ellis Earl applies himself at school, soaking up the lessons that Mr. Foster teaches his class--particularly those about famous colored people like Mr. Thurgood Marshall and Miss Marian Wright--and borrowing books from his teacher's bookshelf. When Mr. Foster presents him with a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ellis Earl is amazed to encounter a family that's even worse off than his own--and is delighted by the Buckets' very happy ending. But when Mama tells Ellis Earl that he might need to quit school to help support the family, he wonders if happy endings are only possible in storybooks. Around the historical touchstone of Robert Kennedy's southern "poverty tour," Linda Williams Jackson pulls from her own childhood in the Mississippi Delta to tell a detail-rich and poignant story with memorable characters, sure to resonate with readers who have ever felt constricted by their circumstances."--.

Examines events of the 1960s in the United States, discussing the Vietnam War, influential people, and how the young people of the era rallied against social conventionalism.

Details American involvement in the Vietnam War, including information on its beginnings, campaigns, and changing public opinion about the war.

An attempt to encapsulate the whole of the 1960's through the experiences of two families, one white and one black, who are torn apart by the social forces of the time: the civil rights movement, the student revolution, and the Vietnam War. The Herlihy's are a white, middle class, Catholic family in Chicago. The Taylor's are the family of a black preacher in Mississippi. The eldest Herlihy son (O'Connell) enlists in the Marines on graduation from high school, is sent to Vietnam, and returns as a disillusioned head case. His younger brother (Hamilton), becomes a freedom rider and later, in college, an anti-war activist. Their sister (Stiles), winds up pregnant and unmarried on the streets of Haight Asbury. The black family, active in civil rights protests in the South, moves to Los Angeles where the father (Dutton) is killed during the Watts riots. His son Emmet (Roberts), eventually becomes a bodyguard for Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Grier). In the end, everyone who survives finds a modicum of happiness. The Herlihy children are reunited at Woodstock and reconcile with their parents who accept their children for what they have become. Emmet Taylor returns to Watts to organize a breakfast program for needy children.

Examines a time that saw the United States gain its superpower status and engage in a decades-long cold war with the Communist powers of the world.

Chronicles political, social, economic, and cultural events and developments that shaped the 1960s in the U.S.

"This book describes the context, important figures, and significant events surrounding the New Frontier and Great Society eras of American history"--Provided by publisher.

"[The author] provides an informed understanding of the origins, character, and objectives of the Civil rights movement. His analysis of the critical moments conveys the sense of a social movement that shaped its participants even as they shaped it"--Provided by publisher.

In 1967, when his teacher loans him a copy of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," eleven-year-old Ellis Earl Brown is amazed to encounter a family worse off than his own and wonders if happy endings only come in books.