Review by Choice Review
Academicians for whom a narrowing canon or culture of political correctness may be the most troublesome current free-speech worry may not recall the grinding conformity or serious strictures on speech that existed not so long ago, even at such now-storied bastions of expression as Berkeley. Sparked by the death of the movement's student founder and leader Mario Savio in 1996, this is a fascinating and informative retrospective on Berkeley's 1964 Free Speech Movement (FSM). Its contributors include FSM veterans, former president Clark Kerr, Berkeley professors from FSM days, and scholars of history and constitutional law. Some may see this substantial volume as an unbalanced celebration of dissonant politics. But so much of FSM merits celebration. At Berkeley (where entrance to the administration building is by the "Savio steps") and in freedoms in the academy across the nation, one may not be far off in observing that those seeking FSM's legacy might just look around. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of social movements, social history, the history of the academy, and constitutional rights. J. D. Gillespie Presbyterian College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
When the University of California at Berkeley erupted in 1964 into protests over freedom of speech, it set the stage for campus unrest in the turbulent 1960s. At the center of the Berkeley protest was the eloquent Mario Savio, primary orator in the student rebellion that became known as the free speech movement. He died in 1996, and in his memory, the editors and authors reexamine the free speech movement, where it fit into the ferment for social change, and its impact on campus and other protests that ensued. Essays by veterans of the movement, faculty members who were involved in the crisis, the former president of the university, historians of civil rights, and constitutional scholars recall the atmosphere of the time, the struggle within universities to address growing discontent with the old model of docile students separate and apart from professors and administrators, and growing social and political ferment in the nation. This is an absorbing look back through personal accounts and political analyses at a student protest that continues to reverberate. --Vanessa Bush
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
