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In the
1960s and 70s, young people organized themselves like never
before to protest the United States' involvement in the Vietnam
War, as well as several local governments' treatment of the
minority population (e.g. the anti-integration movements in
the South). At the same time, university students were questioning
the agendas of their teachers and those who ran the universities,
as well as the military and corporate groups. Students for
a Democratic Society (SDS), a student-led direct action group,
saw a conspiratorial connection between corporate interests,
the government, and university authorities, so they set about
organizing a national response to these forces.
Harvey
Pekar—of American Splendor fame—along with
various other writers, artists, and SDS members, tell several
stories about the history of SDS: from its creation through
several of its major protests to the stories of individual
members' experiences in the organization. Moreover, they do
so in a unique way: through black-and-white illustrations
that dramatize the events.
The
book opens with the creation of SDS, when Al Haber, SDS's
first president, broke the organization off from the avowedly
anti-communist League for Industrial Democracy. After this
general overview of SDS history, the book continues with a
series of individual narratives, such as Mark Naison's experience
as a liberal Jewish athlete dating a Black woman at Columbia
University in the '60s and the story of an unnamed young couple
who married during the occupation of the Columbia administration
building by SDS members. (Though the SDS movement existed
on many college campuses nationwide, Columbia was the site
of some of the biggest protests, so it is well-represented
in this history.)
The
book is predominantly illustrated by longtime Pekar-collaborator
Garry Dumm. The pacing of the stories and the art layouts
are executed with ample skill. However, despite inserting
the reader into the center of the protests and marches that
defined the '60s and '70s, none of the characters seemed dressed
for the part: All of the characters are dressed in the same
shapeless sweatshirts and jackets, which puts off the reader
expecting Vietnam-era bellbottoms, love beads, and ironically-worn
fatigues. This isn't a major flaw, but it somewhat detracts
from the narrative nevertheless: Imagine a favorite film,
but re-shot with all of the actors wearing T-shirts and jeans—this
wardrobe affects the tone.
Clothing
isn't the only problem in this graphic history: In several
of the stories, certain plot threads go seemingly nowhere.
In "Austin Stories: Part One," for example, a film director
walks onto the UT Austin campus and recruits a couple of random
high school girls to play "sexy beatnik chicks" in his movie,
a couple of other girls break up a fraternity porn-viewing,
somebody has sex, somebody gets married, and several protests
are intermingled with the rest of the mess. There are several
instances of seemingly misplaced storylines sprinkled throughout
the book that detract from the overall strength of the history:
These occasional asides introduce characters that never appear
again, and descriptions of some of the protests—the Dow
Chemical protest at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
in particular—lack narrative cohesion. In these places,
the writers seem to presume that the reader has a working
knowledge of the SDS movement and its major protests, but
the effect on the layman is mainly confusion.
Despite
these flaws, Students for a Democratic Society provides
a unique historical perspective that is especially timely:
Learning about a generation of young people who were able
to organize themselves and fight for their beliefs is important
in our increasingly troubled times. Ultimately, this history
can serve as comfort to those who feel helpless in the current
political climate and, moreover, provide practical information
about the new SDS movement. Though uneven, Students for
a Democratic Society sheds light on the motivations of
an era of young people who fought for what they believed in,
and that should serve as an inspiration to us all.
(January,
2008)
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