Beauty is in the Street

Description

Well written and informative … The stories of Provo and other groups, less mythologised than the brick-throwers of 1968 but equally important, illuminate the pages of this book, showing that their efforts ‘changed the society in which we live’ not merely by achieving things, but also by encouraging us to try it ourselves.—Anna Aslanyan, Financial Times

[Haeberlen’s] particular strength is in covering not just protests in the West, such as the 1968 movements, but on the other side of the Iron Curtain … intricate details … a rich and readable account of left-wing activism in the West and opposition to Soviet-style communism in the East.—Katja Hoyer, The Spectator

An amiable history of countercultural agitators, from Amsterdam’s anti-car anarchists to Poland’s ‘revolution of dwarfs’, shows the myriad faces of postwar dissent … A dream, perhaps, but one that still sounds worth fighting for, even beautiful.—Stuart Jeffries, The Observer

Although Europe had the uprisings in Paris and Prague in 1968, the revolutionary violence of the 1970s and theorists such as Herbert Marcuse and Guy Debord, the counter-culture it produced tends to take second place in the Anglophone world’s imagination. Joachim C. Häberlen’s wide-ranging book gives the continent its due.—Dorian Lynskey, Literary Review

An ambitious and masterly account of utopian protest in Europe from the 1950s to 1989 and beyond, ranging from political revolt to environmental and humanitarian movements and the sexual revolutions, lifestyle changes, music and laughter of the counterculture. Fast-paced, with an eye for telling detail and written with a light touch.—Robert Gildea

Vibrant … a book that pulses with colour and light … vividly demonstrates that the post-war impulse to build a better world was so much more than mere theory.—Marcus Colla, The InterpreterJoachim C. Häberlen is a historian of modern Europe. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and worked until 2022 at the University of Warwick; he now lives and works in Berlin. He has published widely on the history of protesting and activism, including The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left: West Germany, 1968-1984 and Citizens and Refugees: Stories from Afghanistan and Syria to Germany.GB

Additional information