cover image New Voices: Student Political Activism in the '80s and '90s

New Voices: Student Political Activism in the '80s and '90s

Tony Vellela. South End Press, $30 (279pp) ISBN 978-0-89608-341-7

The author of Food Co-ops for Small Groups chronicles current campus protest activity, interviews student leaders and profiles organizations to prove his finally undeniable point that student activism in the '80s is a vital and influential national movement. Apartheid, Central America, sexism and racism are just a few of the hotbeds of contention on campuses today, and Vellela sets the background of student activism on each issue, from the Depression to the late '70s, and examines the tactics of today's activists, their aims, problems and achievements. He also revisits many news-making events, like the CIA protesters' trial involving Amy Carter and Abbie Hoffman, and the racial attacks at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst after the '86 World Series. Often the book slips into propagandistic tones, and New Voices is more a facet of the activism it describes than an impartial record of it. It is also an impressive study and a piece of history in the making. Photos not seen by PW. (May)