This book is a collection of first-person accounts of the period August 1969-August 1970. A range of voices are included - from draft resisters and activists to FBI agents - and it's remarkable how much occurred during this time frame - leak of the Pentagon Papers, the Kent State Shooting, Woodstock. I learned a lot from this book and I appreciated hearing the different perspectives on this momentous time. If you're interested in the history of the 1960s and 70s, this book is highly recommended. ( )

Eye-opening. It puts together the pieces in a way I hadn't heard before

This is my favorite book (so far) of 2016!

The author takes an in-depth look at the school year of August 1969 to August 1970 and addresses almost every milestone that happened in that time frame - and there were quite a few (draft resisting, the formation of the Weathermen, Nixon trying to take down any and all perceived threats to his power, the release of the Pentagon Papers, Kent State, Woodstock, breaking the My Lai massacre in the news, women's lib, the Black Panther Party, etc, etc). And she doesn't write it down like a textbook; instead, the major players who were willing to talk about what they saw, experienced, did, and thought tell the tales. The result is an incredibly engrossing read, and I am so sad that it is now over, although the author provides an extensive "further reading" category with well over a hundred books, and I want to read at least half of them.

The 60s were such a fascinating time frame for me and how society changed so dramatically, and even though a lot of people seem to think that it was a bunch of hippies who smoked dope and listened to trippy music, there is so much that happened during this time frame that still affects us to this day. And the book doesn't shy away from the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Reading this book was an eye-opener for me, showing just how disconnected I feel from the political process. It is amazing to me to see so many hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who saw what they knew to be wrong and did what they could to change it. And now, today, we have such an amazing network available to us to organize (the internet), and we don't use it. It just blows my mind. And so many people think that Edward Snowden is an enemy. Also blows my mind. Listen to some of the songs from the era (Steppenwolf's "Monster" is a great place to start and is mentioned in this book) and they apply so, so much to modern day problems too.

Highly recommended. ( )

Best: the sorting of 1969 - 1970 into useful categories such as The Draft, Moratorium, Townhouse, Culture Wars, Army Math.
Second Best: descriptions of Vietnam War escalation from Nixon insiders
Third Best: Commentary by the Armstrong Brothers, perpetrators of the Army Math bombing in Madison, WI
Worst: Mark Rudd, David Harris, Bill Ayres, and Bernadine Dohrn humblebragging about their Weather escapades.
Second Worst: not enough on women (nor enough of their voices, still silenced), Black Panthers, Young Lords, Jackson State killings
Third Worst: too much Timothy Leary - who gives a shit - and not enough Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin

This is a good (if selective) recounting of (for some of us) our true glory days. Hardly to be believed by our children, hardly to be forgotten by us. ( )

Witness to the Revolution is a powerful, compelling, intense, immersive, easy to read, hard to put down, brilliant book. I absolutely loved the author's unique approach in writing this. Rather than using interviews as research, then stringing together a chronological, impersonal narration, the author lets her interviewees tell the story in their own words. Clara Bingham puts these pieces together in order of events, as well as dividing them by specific topics (Woodstock, Weathermen, My Lai, etc.). We're shown all sides of the tumultuous era; from conservatives, to hippies and the drug culture, to hard-core activists. The result is a stunning and comprehensive account of one of the most divisive periods in American history.

Time and distance allow us to reexamine past events, but even then we are often shown a skewed image, or perhaps a narrow and biased (unintentional or not) focus. Clara Bingham has given us the gift of an expansive view, so we all might see what the other side saw at the time, good, bad, or indifferent.

In reading this, it's difficult not to be struck by just how close the US came to a full out revolution. I also found myself pondering our current state of general complacency. Some people say that eliminating the draft was not a good thing, because it allows us the freedom to disconnect from politics that aren't directly effecting us. Perhaps that's true. This book certainly gives us much to consider.

I could go on and on about the attributes of this book. But, really, the most important thing I can tell you is to read it.

*I received an advance copy from the publisher, via Amazon Vine, for my honest review.* ( )