For fear it would make me conservative when old.

~Robert Frost, 'Ten Mills,' A Further Range, 1936

In Beyond the Barricades: The Sixties Generation Grows Up, Whalen and Flacks examine the question of what happened to the idealism and radical activism displayed by the young men and women who came of age in the late sixties as this cohort grew up and became adults. The media has portrayed many of the former sixties rebels as "sell outs" who have joined the corporate conglomerations and adopted the conservative politics that they so vehemently opposed in their youth. Whalen and Flacks show, however, that most of these sixties activists continue to remain true to their political ideology, even if their level of activism has decreased over the years.

The main question being asked in this study is what happens to youthful idealism over time and as people age? What becomes of a life centered on creating revolution when the revolution does not occur? Can a lifestyle of rebellion and creating turmoil be sustained over a prolonged period of time? These questions are important in understanding the personal benefits and sacrifices of political activism and what can be

Another question that comes to mind is the emotional well being of the former activists. The descriptions of the Isla Vista rioting was not unlike descriptions of a war zone. The stress of such an environment, plus the legal battles waged by the Santa Barbara 19 and those charged in the bank burning case, must have undoubtedly taken its toll. Yet, at that time, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was not yet widely recognized. Since mental health issues are receiving much more attention today, it would be interesting to study the psychological profiles of the former radical activists.

The personal narratives give very strong insights and clearly support the generalizations made by the authors. For example, Martha Koch's internal struggle between her political life and her aspirations of a career in medicine demonstrate how a number of activists felt trapped by the feeling that they had to devote themselves completely to the movement. The poignant stories of each of the respondents add substantial depth to the authors' findings.

In short, Whalen and Flacks conclude that sixties idealism has not faded, but has merely changed shape. Most of these sixties activists continue to remain true to their political ideology, even if their level of activism has decreased over the years. The activists are divided into four groups: persisters, disengaged radicals, left-liberals, and nonpersisters. The three nonpersisters are the only ones to have abandoned their leftist ideology. The rest, with the left-liberals being the largest group, express a feeling of disillusionment with the effectiveness of the movement and their own efforts. However, this disillusionment has done little to affect their ideology, and most remain true to their leftist beliefs.

Through the personal narratives of these respondents, Whalen and Flacks reconstruct events during the student protests and show the trajectories of the lives of the respondents after the protesting subsided. Even though the activists are significantly less politically active and show some evidence of "settling down" as they reach their thirties, the findings show that the activists' current careers and lifestyles reflect the values and perspectives prevalent in the activist movement and the counterculture. Whalen and Flacks divide the activists into four subgroups: persisters, disengaged radicals, left-liberals, and nonpersisters.

The authors aim to put these respondents in a larger context, and compare the events at Isla Vista to a larger social history. While I may be skeptical of these sweeping generalizations, it cannot be denied that there were rumblings of a revolution and large-scale change across the country. The messages in songs of the era reflect these feelings, as the Beatles sung about "Revolution" and Bob Dylan sang "The times they are a changin'." The youth movement was a nationwide phenomenon and the young people of the era who held these political beliefs all had to struggle with what to do with this ideology as they got older. Perhaps the sixties generation as a whole can relate to the experiences of the Isla Vista activists.

The personal stories also help the reader relate to the respondents. The reader can try to picture themselves in similar situations and wonder how they themselves would react in similar circumstances. This emotional connection is much more easily forged in this type of format than in a book filled with statistics and tables.

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Approximate Word count = 2452
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)