Turning Points-Actual and Alternate Histories: America in Revolt during the 1960s and 1970s

In the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with the widening generation gap, clashes over civil rights, the rise of the women's movement, and the growing agony of the Vietnam War, America was a nation in wrenching conflict with itself. But what if Kennedy had not been targeted? How would America be different if the Civil Rights Act was defeated? What if the confrontation at Kent State had been resolved peacefully?

This volume in the Turning Points-Actual and Alternative Histories series looks at a tumultuous recent era in American history, a time when pivotal, often tragic, world-changing events seemed to be happening at an alarming rate. America in Revolt during the 1960s and 1970s looks at 12 significant events, from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, from the student killings at Kent State to Richard Nixon's resignation. Drawing on the concepts of alternative history, the book portrays each event as it happened, then considers some plausible alternative scenarios of how history would have been different if these events had not occurred. It is a uniquely thought provoking way of exploring an explosive era, whose aftershocks continue to shape the American experience today.