Revolution in the Air

Revolution in the Air is the definitive study of how radicals from the sixties movements embraced twentieth-century Marxism, and what movements of dissent today can learn from the legacies of Lenin, Mao and Che.“It should be required reading for those interested in the modern history of social movements and for radicals of my generation who are trying to find out what went wrong.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Truly a superb work of scholarship that raises all the right questions.”
—Radical History

“The breadth of Elbaum’s knowledge … marks this book as an absolutely first-rate work of political scholarship.”
—Village Voice

“If you still believe sixties radicalism was nothing more than youthful middle-class confusion or parochial identity politics, then open these pages and dig.”
—Robin D. G. Kelley

"Socialists in the twenty-first century don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel — they can learn from the often-heroic efforts of radicals several decades ago. Revolution in the Air is essential reading for the new generation of radicals that wants to get anti-capitalism right this time."
—Micah Uetricht, co-author of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism

“You can disagree with almost everything Elbaum writes … and still value the clarity with which he poses the questions relevant to an effective anti-racist, feminist and class-conscious revolutionary movement in the twenty-first century.”
—Marx & PhilosophyMax Elbaum was a member of Students for a Democratic Society and a leader of one of the main new communist movement organizations. His writings have appeared in the Nation, the US Guardian, CrossRoads, and the Encyclopedia of the American Left. He lives in Oakland.