After All These Years: Sixties Ideals in a Different World

Kessler's anecdotal evidence that some '60s activists have turned their values into socially and politically conscious lives is only mildly convincing and even less interesting. Each of four parts, including ``Right Livelihood'' and ``Counter/Culture,'' begins with a profile/interview of a celebrity activist (such as Angela Davis and Gloria Steinem) followed by a brief historical essay by Kessler and personal narratives from antiwar, civil rights and other activists. Journalist Kessler's ( The Dissident Press ) own notes are striking more for their air of nostalgia than their insight; the oral histories themselves are uninspiring. While several subjects, like the ex-hippie who became mayor of Eureka Springs, Ark., help make Kessler's case, her choice of others is baffling. One fellow, whose parents fled the Spanish Civil War, is actually smug about being ``politicized'': after all, his parents ``were pretty much illiterate immigrants.'' A daughter of two schoolteachers who had thought her parents' jobs were ``horrendous'' soon worked out her ideals for social change--by becoming a schoolteacher. (June)