Biblio File

Counterculture Reading List

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of 1968, the Library is hosting an exploration of the many cultural changes that emerged from 1960–74 and how they carry forward into today’s environment of activism and political engagement. There are many opportunites to attend events at the Library.  You can also travel back to the sixties in the magic time machine that is literature. Here are a few titles to consider. 

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
The electric Kool-Aid acid test
On the Road
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
 
 
 
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Trout Fishing In America
The Fire Next Time
The  Autobiography of Malcolm X

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan
 
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
 

 The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X 

 

Understanding Media
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Female Eunuch
If I Die In a Combat Zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer 

If I Die In a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O’Brien

 

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

 

 
 

Comments

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Seriously?? One Flew Over the

Seriously?? One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? That's not about counterculture, it's about men ripping open a nurse's uniform to demonstrate that regardless of social status or mental infirmity, they will dominate her and they are in charge. How about Off the Road? No small press or self-published works? This is a pretty, shall we say, imbalanced reading list to represent counterculture. Our nation is 50% female. Plenty of those were writers in the 60s.