Edited by Alexander DeConde
"Student turmoil has a long history. It is as old as the universities.... Civil disturbances involving town and gown erupted in the Middle Ages virtually as soon as students began living together in university towns as members of a recognized group set off from the larger society. Since that time hostility between the academic community and townspeople has been traditional." (from the editor's introduction)
Alexander DeConde has collected the essays in this book to show that the worldwide youth rebellion of the 1960s had its roots in the past and also to prove historically that the conflict between the generations need not be bloody. The selections begin with medieval student life and then go on to the later student movements in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and finally the United States. In his own introduction the author traces the evolution of the student culture throughout the world, showing the common and unique characteristics of activism as it existed from country to country and over time.