Books in Brief

Campustown in the Throes of the Counterculture 1968-1972, by Mark Graubard (Campus Scope Press, 415 pp., no price given). Fiction can be a better way of getting at the meaning of events than mere description. No doubt that is why Mark Graubard chose fiction to present his account of the counterculture and the campus revolution. It enabled him to concretize it, to speculate on the personalities involved, and dramatically to unfold the story through the eyes of witnesses. Graubard is not a skilled novelist. Yet, though his fictionalization at times wears thin and is interrupted by lectures and arguments put in the mouths of various protagonists, he has written a gripping book. The events described are fortunately past. They are already being romanticized by those who foolishly or maliciously instigated them, by those weak enough to be swept away by them, and by those too cowardly to resist. Professor Graubard’s book is a welcome reminder. It is an accurate description of what happened and why. It explains why most academic institutions turned out to be soft as pudding, as soft as their faculties and, worse, their administrations and trustees, when some students decided that more fun could be had by destroying them than by learning within them. Professor Graubard obviously lived through it all. Writing this book must have been a catharsis for him, and it will be for his readers too. And they will learn from it. Whether academicians and administrators will, heaven only knows. After devoting themselves to youth culture, many of them are now, you know, into affirmative action and open admissions.

ERNEST VAN DEN HAAG

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Campustown in the Throes of the Counterculture 1968-1972, by Mark Graubard (Campus Scope Press, 415 pp., no price given). Fiction can be a better way of getting at the meaning of events than mere description. No doubt that is why Mark Graubard chose fiction to present his account of the counterculture and the campus revolution. It enabled him to concretize it, to speculate on the personalities involved, and dramatically to unfold the story through the eyes of witnesses. Graubard is not a skilled novelist. Yet, though his fictionalization at times wears thin and is interrupted by lectures and arguments put in the mouths of various protagonists, he has written a gripping book. The events described are fortunately past. They are already being romanticized by those who foolishly or maliciously instigated them, by those weak enough to be swept away by them, and by those too cowardly to resist. Professor Graubard’s book is a welcome reminder. It is an accurate description of what happened and why. It explains why most academic institutions turned out to be soft as pudding, as soft as their faculties and, worse, their administrations and trustees, when some students decided that more fun could be had by destroying them than by learning within them. Professor Graubard obviously lived through it all. Writing this book must have been a catharsis for him, and it will be for his readers too. And they will learn from it. Whether academicians and administrators will, heaven only knows. After devoting themselves to youth culture, many of them are now, you know, into affirmative action and open admissions.

ERNEST VAN DEN HAAG