Peter Collier & David Horowitz

Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts about the '60s

A classic. Collier and Horowitz were part of those crazy nut Leftists of the 60s and 70s. Only they were honest enough to recant and be converted to common sense middle age. They take us through the whole weird mess of riots, crimes, sit-ins, orgies, provocations, revolts, and what have you that characterize those rage-filled Oedipus times. The stories of all those crackpots are here: their ways of life, their proclaimed and real motivations, their words and their deeds. This is not an intellectual lecture; this is people applying their beliefs to life, and making those of their neighbors nightmares. It is thousands of prodigal sons and daughters feeling guilty for their privileged lives and taking it on their benefactors in the name of the poor and oppressed. The truth is not one of them ever did any good to anybody. There are no records of poor people, or oppressed, expressing their appreciation and gratitude for any of those progressives did for them.

It's a comprehensive book, dealing with all aspects of the 60s. If ideas have consequences, this book deals as much with those ideas (rather those who had those ideas, and their lives) as with the consequences of those ideas. The terrible contrast between self-appointed messiahs of the masses and their deeds affecting the lives of others around them comes out remarkably clear.

This is a mandatory read, for those interested in recent American history and specially to young people lacking in character, so prone to be co-opted by the first trend in town, and so vulnerable under peer pressure. There is no "essay on" socialism of leftism, this is a warning with historical implications, filled with facts that truly make up a lesson for right living. Thank God that one does not need to be a Ph.D or even a very intelligent fellow to see clearly how crazy and dangerous Socialism is, making the experiences the authors went through unnecessary. In any case, better to be a prodigal son and be back home, than be gone for good.