The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary

Inspiring overall, but depressingly liberal (and highly masturbatory) in places. Kunen wouldn't know true radicalism if it punched him in his privileged face. He appears to have viewed the erstwhile 'revolution' at Columbia as something that was foisted upon him to his own great inconvenience. He seems more annoyed by the state than enraged by it, and he repeatedly rests his thoughts, with some smugness, on his own privileged ability to leave the rev behind and 'choose' normalcy. Which he clearly did, as a major motion picture of this book was made by MGM about five years after it was published, including a cameo by the author. How revolutionary!

Also, women are repeatedly objectified and/or dismissed, in deeply misogynist ways that show more Kunen seems to think are 'less heavy' than mainstream society's treatment of women. Overall this book gives a lot of great context for a fascinating time in history, but in the end it does nothing at all to challenge the system. show less