THE OTHER EIGHT AND SIXTY: Social history of a revolt

Christina von Hodenberg
Professor of European History at Queen Mary College, University of London

50 years after „1968“, it is time for a fresh look at the events that still divide the Republic today. Using new sources that have been analysed for the first time, Christina von Hodenberg shatters the old certainties and shows the other sixty-eight beyond the legends that have been told time and again. In our memories, sixty-eight is a matter for young male students in big cities like Berlin and Frankfurt. In the background is a generational conflict fuelled by the controversy over the Nazi past. Rudi Dutschke, the SDS and the Berlin Commune I are at the centre of the story. But was that really everything? In her brilliantly written book, Christina von Hodenberg shows what is wrong with this picture and what it leaves out. Sixty-eight was also female, it also took place away from the big metropolises, the Nazi past was not the central driving force and the parents had much more understanding for the concerns of their children than it seems in retrospect. By focussing on what is usually ignored, this book provides the first true social history of the 1968 revolt.

Moderation Philipp Blom, writer, historian, journalist