The 1960s, a period of time essentially classified as the 1950s to 70s, are a time of many social issues and cultural change in America. It is the time of the civil rights movement and above all it is the time of the movements against the Vietnam war. There is no end to the amount of books covering interesting and unique perspectives on these two decades of American history. Through the study of five texts, new facts and opinions about the 1960s are revealed and common themes in the narratives are identified. As each author faces new perspectives and makes different claims about his or her influence, the undeniability of historical facts becomes clouded from perception and proves that history can be rewritten by its analyzers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Peace and Freedom: The Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements in the 1960's by Simon Hall is one such book that examines a new perspective on the major events and social issues of the 1960s. Through examining the time period, Hall determines a connection between the African American freedom struggle and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. It uses many primary and secondary sources to explore how those involved in the civil rights movement responded to the war and how those who opposed the war became involved in the mainstream peace movement. He believes that the civil rights and anti-war movements have failed to work together, despite common beliefs and motivations. By referencing both the civil rights and anti-war movements in two of the most important social issues of the 1960s and linking them together to explain how they relate, he effectively describes the two major tensions of the time period without pretending that one had no effect. the other. Another interesting retrospective look at the 1960s is detailed in Speaking Out: Activism and Protest in the 1960's and 1970's by Heather Ann Thompson. Heather details events from the past to explain how they have defined the present, arguing that the civil rights movement inspired essentially all civil rights groups of the time period and beyond to develop more successful methods. His research involves analyzing many leaders of the successful civil rights movement and demonstrating similarities in ideology and strategy between them and many different movements. Its strengths lie in the primary sources documented at the end of each chapter, from classic documents to lesser-known movement texts. This perspective is unique and informative as it introduces its readers to the key events and ideas of the civil rights movement while using these facts to determine how they have influenced the present. This also explains a less explored than usual impact on American culture: the impact of the civil rights movement on activism in general. A more traditional approach to the history of the 1960s came from the book Civil Rights: 1960-66 by Lester A. Sobel. This narrative ignores events of the time that did not have to do with the civil rights movement and instead describes actual events and historical stories related to the movement. While this book does not document as many sources as the others, it remains mostly impartial in its attempts to describe the socio-cultural situation of African Americans at the time. It accurately describes the need for a revolution and the steps that those involved in the Movement for.
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