Mayday 1971 : a White House at war, a revolt in the streets, and the untold history of America's biggest mass arrest

Author

Lawrence Roberts

Call Number

• 959.7043 R6458 (CEN)

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Publication Information

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.

Physical Description

xxx, 416 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Summary

1971. Fiery radicals, flower children, and militant vets gathered for the most audacious act in a years-long movement to end America's war in Vietnam: a blockade of the nation's capital. The White House, headed by an increasingly paranoid Richard Nixon, was determined to stop it. Roberts, drawing on interviews, archives, and newfound White House transcripts, recreates these largely forgotten events. It began with a bombing inside the U.S. Capitol-- a still-unsolved case. To prevent the Mayday Tribe's guerrilla-style traffic blockade, the government mustered the military. Riot squads swept through the city, arresting more than 12,000 people. An inspiring story of how our democracy faced grave danger, and survived. -- adapted from jacket.

Contents

• Prologue: Nixon's insurrection city
• March 1971
• This is real
• We need time
• The hot buttons
• A mighty waters
• The pivot point
• This is 36
• April 1971
• The courage part
• Move on over
• Fringe group
• The last man
• The Saturday march
• What's the harm?
• Public defenders
• Barricades
• May 1971
• War council
• Revoked
• Mayday
• The interest of justice
• A heavy cloud
• The holdouts
• Aftermath
• Epilogue.