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50 Years Ago, 1968's Radical Protests Changed The World

In 1968, the planet convulsed. Historian Richard Vinen writes about the defining year in his book "1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies."
"1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies," by Richard Vinen. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Photographer Harry Benson called 1968 “the year America had a nervous breakdown.” There were the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, protesters clubbed at the Democratic National Convention and a civil rights movement that exploded into marches against the Vietnam War.

Historian Richard Vinen writes about the defining year in his new book “1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies,” and joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to discuss.

Book Excerpt: ‘1968’

by Richard Vinen

This book is about ‘68’, by which I mean

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