The Radical Sixties

Discussion Questions

1. What do this week's readings, websites, and music suggest to you about the generation gap in the 1960s? Be sure to mention specific authors and texts.

2. Discuss Andy Warhol's commentary on American consumer culture. What role do you think consumerism played in the counterculture of the 1960s?

3. What does Joe Kelly's response to the student antiwar movement suggest about the class dimensions of the student protest movement in the 1960s?

4. Compare Didion's representation of the counterculture to that of Lisa Law. What are the similarities and differences? How does each illuminate different aspects of the counterculture through the different forms (essay and photography) that they employ?

5. Discuss your reactions to songs like "Universal Soldier" and "The FISH Cheer." To what extent are your reactions to such songs affected either by your parents' activities during the Vietnam era or by the nation's shifting perspective on war in the 1980s and 1990s?

6. Malcolm X claimed not to have an American dream; Joe Kelly felt that his version of the American dream was imperiled by the destructive behavior of young college students. In your opinion, how did the American dream fare in the 1960s?