A Time to Stir

This kaleidoscopic book does justice, at last, to the vortex of energies, passions, and illusions that boiled up in the cauldron of Columbia 1968. In A Time to Stir, the indefatigable Paul Cronin has assembled a fascinating range of chronicles and revelations that greatly illuminate one of the central confrontations of the sixties. -- Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
In this richly contextualized collection of essays written by participants involved in the student protests at Columbia University in the spring of 1968, historian Paul Cronin treats the topic as comprehensively as possible. A Time to Stir showcases a broad range of perspectives, draws out numerous themes, and reminds us why the Columbia rebellion remains relevant today. A Time to Stir also makes for dramatic, exciting, and provocative reading. This is can't-put-it-down history. -- John McMillian, Georgia State University
A Time to Stir creates an extraordinary, fair-minded portrait of Columbia '68 and the effect it had on many of its participants. The myth is still out there of elite '60s-era student protesters leaving behind their radical youths soon after graduation. Columbia '68ers did not as a whole simply put their radical student days behind them but instead used their experiences and changed viewpoints to build new progressive lives that affected American society. -- David Farber, University of Kansas
By collecting and arranging the testimonies of the historical actors who participated in perhaps the most well-known American student rebellion in the post-WWII era, A Time to Stir has issued a favor to future researchers. The breadth of perspectives in the book will pay deep dividends for those seeking to understand youth, power, and institutional change. -- Stefan Bradley, Loyola Marymount University
More than 60 participants and witnesses to the uprising provide impassioned, first-person accounts leavened by hindsight, but rekindled by stirring contemporary events. -- Sam Roberts * The New York Times *
The definitive book on the Columbia student uprising. -- Clara Bingham * Vanity Fair *
A Time to Stir enables us to receive a comprehensive understanding of those seven days of chaos on the university’s campus, as it serves as a platform for the views of individuals from different and opposing sides. . . . This meticulously edited work serves as a powerful tool to look back to this exemplary moment of student activism and willingness to fight the status quo for what is right. * Public Books *
A Time to Stir: Columbia ’68 is an excellent source book and will no doubt be of great value to future historians of the Sixties. -- Jonah Raskin * CounterPunch *
A mesmerizing historical composite in which a core narrative is retold through multiple refractions. . . . The shared hope is that new generations, as if called by history, will find their own time and way to be brave and make a difference. -- Jeremy Varon * The American Historical Review *
A Time to Stir: Columbia ’68 is a stunning achievement of historical perspective, grappling with an incendiary moment defined only by passion and pandemonium. The final result is the opposite of an organized consensus; the voices are older, wiser, but their stories still surge in an unbroken thread with their beliefs from half a century ago. * The Bowery Boys *
A remarkable collection. -- Frank A. Guridy * The Columbia Daily Spectator *
The wealth of detail, along with several amusing and poignant personal reflections, make it worth a read. * The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture *
Exhilarating to some and deeply troubling to others, the student protests paralyzed the university, grabbed the world’s attention, and inspired other uprisings. Fifty years after the events, A Time to Stir captures the reflections of those who participated in and witnessed the Columbia rebellion. * The New York History Blog *