The Movements of the New Left, 1950-1975

Book excerpt: Movements of the New Left is a documentary history of the movements for fundamental social change and radical democracy that disrupted the United States from their emergence in the 1950s through their dispersion and institutionalization in the early 1970s. Using an inclusive definition of the New Left, Gosse tracks the development and commonalities of the civil rights and black power movements and other struggles of people of color, of the peace, antiwar, and student movements, and of feminism and gay liberation. The introduction presents a solid overview of the history of these movements, combining chronological and thematic approaches against the backdrop of Cold War liberalism. Forty-five documents follow, each with an informative headnote providing context and explanatory footnotes that help students make sense of manifestoes, testimonies, speeches, newspaper advertisements, letters, and book excerpts from the tumultuous era referred to as "the Sixties." A chronology of the New Left, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index provide further pedagogical support.