University of Illinois Press Radicals in the Heartland: The 1960s Student Protest Movement at the University of Illinois

In 1969, the campus tumult that defined the Sixties reached a flash point at the University of Illinois. Out-of-town radicals preached armed revolution. Students took to the streets and fought police and National Guardsmen. Firebombs were planted in lecture halls while explosions rocked a federal building on one side of town and a recruiting office on the other. Across the state, the powers-that-be expressed shock that such events could take place at Illinois's esteemed, conservative, flagship university--how could it happen here, of all places? Positioning the events in the context of their time, Michael V. Metz delves into the lives and actions of activists at the center of the drama. A participant himself, Metz draws on interviews, archives, and newspaper records to show a movement born in demands for free speech, inspired by a movement for civil rights, and driven to the edge by a seemingly never-ending war. If the sudden burst of irrational violence baffled parents, administrators, and legislators, it seemed inevitable to students after years of official intransigence and disregard. Metz portrays campus protesters not as angry, militant extremists but as youthful citizens deeply engaged with grave moral issues, embodying the idealism, naiveté, and courage of a minority of a generation. Review "Thoughtful, provocative, and powerful, filled with both painful memories and humorous anecdotes, Metz's book about the upheaval of one college campus during the radical sixties is a real work of history."--Roger Simon "Michael Metz has contributed a valuable addition to our understanding of the student movement in the Midwest with his study of the University of Illinois during the 1960s. Solidly researched and gracefully presented, this will undoubtedly earn a much deserved place on reading lists and reference material for years to come."--Mary Ann Wynkoop, author of Dissent in the Heartland: The Sixties at Indiana University From the Author Michael V. Metz is retired from a career in high-tech marketing. He took part in the student movement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1965 to 1970. About the Author Michael V. Metz took part in the student movement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1965 to 1970. He is retired from a career in high-tech marketing and resides in Saratoga, California, with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.