'Stories Done: Writings on the 1960s and Its Discontents' by Mikal Gilmore

The revolution -- the one that took place in the 1960s -- was in fact televised. The music, the antiwar movement, the drug culture and the social upheaval of the era became major benefactors of the first wave of saturation media coverage. To the straight world, the events that defined "the '60s" were jarring anomalies that shook the status quo. Moms and dads across America recoiled in front of their sets, fingers crossed that their kids weren't getting their heads busted by the cops.

By Erik Himmelsbach

November 6, 2008