Novels That Deal with the Radical Sixties

[Patricia Abbott]

Can any of you think of novels that deal with the radical movements of the latish sixties other than Marge Piercey's Vida and Roth's American Pastoral. This would be the late sixties, not books like Revolutionary Road or similar earlier sixties fare. Thanks much.

[Steve Allan]

It's not a novel, but Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-aid Acid Test was pretty good. All I can really think of are movies: Medium Cool.

[Sean Chercover]

CHICAGO 69 by Sam Reaves. Just came out recently. I haven't read it yet, but I've heard good things about it.

[Jack Getze]

Besides Wolfe's take on him and his merry band, I think Ken Kesey's own novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Next, was a wonderfully radical take on the sixties--the madness, the lunatics running the asylum, etc.

[Tiffany Leigh]

The two that jumped out at me weren't early enough: both are 70's radicalism and one's British (Dana Spinotta's "Eat the Document" and (Brit) Jonathan Coe's "The Rotter's Club").

Though "Eat the Document" is based on actual events and has that RUNNING ON EMPTY vibe (the Sidney Lumet movie starring Judd Hirsch and River Phoenix about a radical family underground since the 60's). The politics may spillover from decade to decade.

Also, if you find a book that "works," Amazon's engine will list "people who bought this book bought the following" with each entry. Sometimes that's a way I circle a subject based on theme.

[David Terrenoire]

Not exactly a '60's novel but I believe it was Freaky Deaky by Elmore Leonard that dealt with radicals whose time has passed. I could be wrong about the title because it's been a long time, but I think that's it.

[Jack Getze]

That's the right title, and another great Leonard book.

[John McFetridge]

Yeah, a good one. Apparently Charlie Matthau is going to make a movie out of it soon.

[Merrill Young]

I just picked this up at my local UBS.My first Elmore Leonard
Is it a good place to start?
And yes, I HAVE been under a rock all these years.

[Tribe]

Pynchon's Vineland is about (sort of) ex-radicals from the sixties....but I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for, Patti.

[Patricia Abbott]

Some great suggestions here. Thanks. It's actually for my husband, who is looking to write an article comparing novels that dealt with the radicalism of the thirties compare to novels that look at the sixties. He's looking for something more unusual than Vida and American Pastoral, which are great novels but have been discussed to death. He's a political theorist btw. I think I actually have the Gordon book somewhere and perhaps even the Pyncheon one. Freaky Deaky. Loved that and forgot the subtext. One Flew Over. Oh, my god. What a novel and movie. Thanks.

[John McFetridge]

Also T.C. Boyle's DROP CITY about a bunch of people on a commune in California who move it to Alaska. I thought it was a great novel.

[TheFalcon]

DOG SOLDIERS, Robert Stone's amazing novel, deals with some of the fallout of the 60s and the Vietnam War.

THE DEAD CIRCUS, by John Kaye, is noirish tale set in LA in the 60s-70s involving the Manson cult.

James