The year the dream died

Description

Month by month, Witcover re-creates 1968 as he travels with, and reports on, the political fortunes of Lyndon Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, George Romney, and Hubert Humphrey. He conveys the actual words of national figures and commentary by rock artists, media people, economists, Vietnam veterans, and Haight-Ashbury hippies. That year Witcover crossed the country from New Hampshire to California; he was standing on the rioting streets of Washington with Robert Kennedy after King was shot; he was in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel the night Kennedy was gunned down. An eyewitness to history, he presents a unique perspective that captures the mood of a nation and the life of ordinary people as shattering news erupts from assassins' bullets and backroom deals. Witcover broadens our understanding of how that year sowed the seeds of liberalism's demise, the shame of Watergate, Reagan's long reign, and today's new Democratic agenda.

First Sentence

On the eve of the new year 1968, Americans faced a somber outlook, judging from what greeted them in their daily newspapers and on their network television screens.

Excerpt

On the eve of the new year 1968, Americans faced a somber outlook, judging from what greeted them in their daily newspapers and on their network television screens.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The year the dream died: revisiting 1968 in AmericaHardcoverWarner Books1997-01-01
• The Year the Dream DiedGrand Central Publishing1998-06-01