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Covenant Betrayed: Revelations of the Sixties, the Best of Time; the Worst of Time
Book Three: Covenant Betrayed
Introduction to the Sixties and Fifties
One can not understand the Sixties without understanding the Fifties. The Fifties were the first time the American youth had excess freedom. Before the 50s they worked on the family farm; dusk till dawn, slaved in the sweat shops, 12 ours a day, six days a week; starved in the depression; and fought not knowing if they would be alive the next day in World War II and the Korean War.
The Fifties and the Rise of Youth Culture
Then, suddenly, came the fifties. First there were the beatniks led by their spiritual leader Williams Burrough, then the bad boys of rock and roll Elvis, Johnny Cochran, and Jerry Lee Lewis prevailed. This excess freedom led to freedom to think, freedom to question, freedom to challenge.
The Sixties and Civil Rights
In the sixties, the peaceful non-violent Civil Rights Movement progressed to the Black Power and the Black Panthers. The Civil Rights Movement was followed by the creeping involvement in Vietnam, first with military advisors, then massive troop deployments to Vietnam resulting in death, violence, destruction, and disillusion.
Vietnam War and Antiwar Movements
And complementing the war, initially, the educational teach-ins led to massive antiwar demonstrations, to the Weathermen busting windows on Michigan Ave and planting bombs in the Capitol. This all digressed to the second civil war which recently resurfaced with the Iraq War, I afraid now is progressing to the third civil war.
Character Lives and Historical Reflection
Throughout the book we follow the characters' lives from romantic innocence to reality to Expressionism. Some fighting in Vietnam, some protesting the war, some marching for civil rights, friendships destroyed and then repaired. Some lives lost, some destroyed, some survived, but all caught up in the hubris characterized by a gross failure of governmental leadership. Those betrayed the most have their names on a black granite wall in Washington DC.
