great texts of the 60s

playback@earthlink.net
Thu, 22 Aug 1996 13:41:14 -0400

hi-

i've currently been reading R.D. Laing's "The Politics of Experience,"
and was told by a friend of mine who taught undergrads in the late 60s
that this book was a philosophical and ideological pillar of ideas in
the era--that "it would have been incoceivable to teach a Western Civ.
course without reading Laing." To approach the social movements of
the 60s as arising from a certain body of ideas and assumptions, I was
wondering what others might consider to be the texts that were
considered "crucial" in the 60s. Perhaps McLuhan, Laing, Marcuse, C.
Wright Mills.And not just "tomes" like these written by scholars, but
also "idea-books" that were commercial and geared to a wide audience,
like the self-help/therapy classic "I'm O.K, You're O.K.," which
appeared in the late 60s.

It would seem that the next social movements in this country won't be
as informed by written texts, but instead by the plethora of cultural
forms that inundate us presently--media, cable TV, multimedia. Given
the lateral bent of these forms, what influence will this have on the
goals and ideologies of future movements of social change?

Peter Braunstein
NYU