The Public Interest

Triumph of the counterculture

Diana West

Fall 1997

NEWT Gingrich plays an odd role in Reassessing the Sixties, † a new collection of essays edited by Stephen Macedo presenting a mix of viewpoints on women, universities, and race. For his declaration of war—not just war, but revolution-against the sixties following the 1994 Republican congressional victory, the Speaker is invoked by essayists on the left and the right; his exhortations against the legacies of the sixties—most notably, his styling of Bill and Hillary Clinton as “countercultural McGoverniks”—recur throughout the book, usually cited as evidence of a juggernaut on the right. (One contributor not-so-elliptically connects Gingrich to the Oklahoma City bombing.)

Download a PDF of the full article.

Download

Insight

from the

Archives

A weekly newsletter with free essays from past issues of National Affairs and The Public Interest that shed light on the week's pressing issues.

advertisement

Sign-in to your National Affairs subscriber account.


Already a subscriber? Activate your account.


subscribe

Unlimited access to intelligent essays on the nation’s affairs.

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to National Affairs.