In the late 1960s, Michael T. Kaufman worked for the New York Times on the evening shift, ensuring that articles and headlines were updated until the very last minute before the paper printed. At the beginning of his third year—1968—Kaufman did not realize how many, and how often, world-changing events would come through the wire. While the entire decade is remarkable for sweeping change, Kaufman identifies pivotal events in the twelve months of 1968 that encapsulate the radical issues and dramas shaping national and global perspectives. “There are some years that stand out more clearly than the rest, when in our memory it seems that the world spun faster and that important and unexpected things occurred almost on a daily basis. 1968 was that kind of year.” From early winter’s Tet Offensive to the Prague Spring, from the Kerner Commission to global student protests, from assassinations to elections, and from the Olympic Games to the Apollo 8 mission, it truly seemed that in a single year the world saw it all. Images of the front pages of the New York Times and numerous black-and-white photographs illuminate the text. A timeline, articles, source notes, and index complete this noteworthy work of nonfiction. (Age 12 and older)

1968, THE YEAR AMERICA GREW UP

From racial and gender equality fights to the struggle against the draft and the Vietnam war, in 1968 Americans asked questions and fought for their rights. Now, 30 years later, we look back on that seminal year--from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assasination to the Columbia University riots to our changing role among other nations--in this gripping introduction to the events home and abroad. The year we first took steps in space, the year we shaped the present, 1968 presented by a former New York Times writer who lived through it all, shares the story with detail and passion.