Critique de CHOICE

After interviewing 74 former activists, Klatch compares the members of a New Left organization, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and a New Right group, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), both of which were founded in 1960. Within YAF, Klatch distinguishes between a libertarian minority, who had much in common with SDS, and a traditionalist majority, who did not. Many of the leftists lived in poverty, got beaten up by police, and went to jail. When they got older, they went into education or social service; they often did not make much money, yet felt guilty about living too easily. The libertarians had similar experiences, except they did not feel bad about making money and living a good life. The traditionalists were the opposite of SDS. In YAF they worked in comfortable offices and faced no bodily hardship or harm. They supported the Vietnam war by staging demonstrations but not by joining the army. Eventually they went into politics and government, which they now largely control, except for some women who became full-time homemakers. All of them are doing well financially. Thus the traditionalists got the money and the power, leaving the leftists and the libertarians with nothing but a place in the history books. All levels. J. A. Hijiya; University of Massachusetts Dartmouth