Dissent in the Heartland

"More than other local histories of campus activism during this period, Dissent in the Heartland introduces national themes and events, and successfully places Indiana University into that context. The research in primary sources, including FBI files, along with numerous interviews, is superior, and the writing is lucid and at times provocative."
—Terry H. Anderson, author of The Sixties

This grassroots view of student activism in the 1960s chronicles the years of protest at one Midwestern university. Located in a region of farmland, conservative politics, and traditional family values, Indiana University was home to antiwar protestors, civil rights activists, members of the counterculture, and feminists who helped change the heart of Middle America. Its students made their voices heard on issues from such local matters as dorm curfews and self-governance to national issues of racism, sexism, and the Vietnam War. Their recognition that the personal was the political would change them forever. The protest movement they helped shape would reach into the heartland in ways that would redefine higher education, politics, and cultural values.

Based on research in primary sources, interviews, and FBI files, Dissent in the Heartland reveals the Midwestern pulse of the Sixties, beating firmly, far from the elite schools and urban centers of the East and West.