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1968: Year of Media Decision
by Robert Giles Robert W. SnyderThirty years ago American political life was all relentless, painful, and confounding: the Tet Offensive brought new intensity to the Vietnam War; President Lyndon Johnson would not seek re-election; Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated; student protests rocked France; a Soviet invasion ended "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia; the Mexican government massacred scores of peaceful demonstrators; and Richard M. Nixon was elected president. Any one of the events of 1968 bears claim to historical significance. Together they set off shock waves that divided Americans into new and contending categories: hawks and doves, old and young, feminists and chauvinists, straights and hippies, blacks and whites, militants and moderates. As citizens alive to their own time and as reporters responsible for making sense of it, journalists did not stand aside from the conflicts of 1968. In their lives and in their work, they grappled with momentous issues--war, politics, race, and protest.
1969
by Rob KirkpatrickFor the fortieth anniversary of 1969, Rob Kirkpatrick takes a look back at a year when America witnessed many of the biggest landmark achievements, cataclysmic episodes, and generation-defining events in recent history. 1969 was the year that saw Apollo 11 land on the moon, the Cinderella stories of Joe Namath's Jets and the "Miracle Mets," the Harvard student strike and armed standoff at Cornell, the People's Park riots, the first artificial heart transplant and first computer network connection, the Manson family murders and cryptic Zodiac Killer letters, the Woodstock music festival, Easy Rider, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, the birth of punk music, the invasion of Led Zeppelin, the occupation of Alcatraz, death at Altamont Speedway, and much more. It was a year that pushed boundaries on stage (Oh! Calcutta!), screen (Midnight Cowboy), and the printed page (Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex), witnessed the genesis of the gay rights movement at Stonewall, and started the era of the "no fault" divorce. Richard Nixon became president, the New Left squared off against the Silent Majority, William Ayers co-founded the Weatherman Organization, and the nationwide Moratorium provided a unifying force in the peace movement. Compelling, timely, and quite simply a blast to read, 1969 chronicles the year through all its ups and downs, in culture and society, sports, music, film, politics, and technology. This is a book for those who survived 1969, or for those who simply want to feel as alive as those who lived through this time of amazing upheaval.
1969 and Then Some: A Memoir of Romance, Motorcycles, and Lingering Flashbacks of a Golden Age
by Robert WintnerThe year when everything needed to be experienced and tried, when innocence was tempted, played, and lost.1969 was that pivotal year for the baby boomers. Young and innocent, they were given the ultimate freedoms and were faced with growing up.This touching, hilarious memoir is the true story of a late sixties grand tour of Europe-a life-defining parable, for those who remember and for those who can't. Never before and not since have a handful of seasons so exquisitely defined the difference between right and wrong. With the gift of youth they saw, sensed, and savored the laughably clear distinction between profit motive and greed, between truth and propaganda, between national interest and defense contractors, between a lovely cloud of smoke and the smoke of napalm, and between the phantoms of security and the dangers of complacency and atrophy.Stoned to the gills and then some, these adventurers saw and felt and knew things that no generation before did. Some fully engaged in the counterculture while others merely observed, sticking a left foot in, pulling a left foot out, but not quite jumping to the full hokeypokey.It was an incredible time of self-discovery, of love, and of finding out what you were made of.
1969: The Year Everything Changed
by Rob KirkpatrickIn 1969, man landed on the moon; the "Miracle Mets" captivated sports fans; students took over college campuses and demonstrators battled police; America witnessed the Woodstock music festival; Hollywood produced Easy Rider; Kurt Vonnegut published Slaughterhouse-Five; punk music was born; and there was murder at Altamont Speedway. Compelling, timely, and a blast to read, 1969 chronicles the year in culture and society, sports, music, film, politics, and technology. This rich, comprehensive history is perfect for those who survived 1969 or for those who simply want to feel as though they did.
1969: The Year Everything Changed
by Rob KirkpatrickFEATURING A NEW INTRODUCTION, THIS IS THE SEMINAL AND CLASSIC BOOK ON THE YEAR THAT DEFINED A GENERATION! 1969. The very mention of this year summons indelible memories. Woodstock and Altamont. Charles Manson and the Zodiac Killer. The televised events of the moon landing and Ted Kennedy’s address after Chappaquiddick. The Amazin’ Mets and Broadway Joe’s Jets. The Stonewall Riots and the Days of Rage. Americans pushed new boundaries on stage, screen, and the printed page. The first punk and metal albums hit the airwaves. Swinger culture became chic. The Santa Barbara oil slick and Cuyahoga River fire highlighted growing ecological devastation. The nationwide Moratorium and the breaking story of the My Lai massacre inspired impassioned debate on the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon spoke of “The Silent Majority” while John and Yoko urged us to “Give Peace a Chance.” In this rich and comprehensive narrative, Rob Kirkpatrick chronicles an unparalleled year in American society in all its explosive ups and downs.
1970 (Exploring Civil Rights)
by Selene CastrovillaLearn about the key events of the civil rights movement in the latest installment of this exciting and informative series.The year 1970 was one of hope in the civil rights movement in education, politics, and the arts. In January, Dr. Clifton Wharton, Jr., became the first African American president of Michigan State University. The first publication of Essence magazine launched in May, focusing on culture, beauty, fashion, and entertainment for Black women in America. In June, Kenneth Allen Gibson was elected as the first African American mayor of a major Northeast city — Newark, New Jersey. And in August, Charles Edward Gordone became the first African American playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, No Place to Be Somebody, about a Black bartender trying to survive in New York City.This detailed account explains why 1970 was such a critical year in the civil rights movement.ABOUT THE SERIES:The years from 1967 to 1978 were critical to the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans struggling to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere and set the stage for even more progress in the coming decades. Discover how this specific time period brought about change and how it still affects us as a society today.With stunning photographs throughout and rich back matter, each book focuses on a specific year and chronologically follows the detailed events that occurred and the changes that took place.
1970: "I" Hotel
by Karen Tei Yamashita"I Hotel" is the third novella of I Hotel, a National Book Award finalist and epic of America's struggle for civil rights as it played out in San Francisco's Chinatown. Yamashita's cast of students, laborers, artists, revolutionaries, and provocateurs make their way through the history of the day, caught in riptides of politics and passion, clashing ideologies and personal turmoil.
1971
by Srinath RaghavanThe war of 1971 was the most significant geopolitical event in the Indian subcontinent since its partition in 1947. At one swoop, it led to the creation of Bangladesh, and it tilted the balance of power between India and Pakistan steeply in favor of India. The Line of Control in Kashmir, the nuclearization of India and Pakistan, the conflicts in Siachen Glacier and Kargil, the insurgency in Kashmir, the political travails of Bangladesh--all can be traced back to the intense nine months in 1971. Against the grain of received wisdom, Srinath Raghavan contends that far from being a predestined event, the creation of Bangladesh was the product of conjuncture and contingency, choice and chance. The breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh can be understood only in a wider international context of the period: decolonization, the Cold War, and incipient globalization. In a narrative populated by the likes of Nixon, Kissinger, Zhou Enlai, Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tariq Ali, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan, Raghavan vividly portrays the stellar international cast that shaped the origins and outcome of the Bangladesh crisis. This strikingly original history uses the example of 1971 to open a window to the nature of international humanitarian crises, their management, and their unintended outcomes.
1971: 100 Films from Cinema's Greatest Year
by Robert Sellers1971 was a great year for cinema. Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Dario Argento, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Nicolas Roeg and Steven Spielberg, among many others, were behind the camera, while the stars were also out in force. Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Vanessa Redgrave all featured in films released in 1971.The remarkable artistic flowering that came from the ‘New Hollywood’ of the ’70s was just beginning, while the old guard was fading away and the new guard was taking over. With a decline in box office attendances by the end of the ’60s, along with a genuine inability to come up with a reliable barometer of box office success, studio heads gave unprecedented freedom to young filmmakers to lead the way.Featuring interviews with cast and crew members, bestselling author Robert Sellers explores this landmark year in Hollywood and in Britain, when this new age was at its freshest, and where the transfer of power was felt most exhilaratingly.
1971: A Year in the Life of Color
by Darby EnglishIn this book, art historian Darby English explores the year 1971, when two exhibitions opened that brought modernist painting and sculpture into the burning heart of United States cultural politics: Contemporary Black Artists in America, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and The DeLuxe Show, a racially integrated abstract art exhibition presented in a renovated movie theater in a Houston ghetto.1971: A Year in the Life of Color looks at many black artists’ desire to gain freedom from overt racial representation, as well as their efforts—and those of their advocates—to further that aim through public exhibition. Amid calls to define a “black aesthetic,” these experiments with modernist art prioritized cultural interaction and instability. Contemporary Black Artists in America highlighted abstraction as a stance against normative approaches, while The DeLuxe Show positioned abstraction in a center of urban blight. The importance of these experiments, English argues, came partly from color’s special status as a cultural symbol and partly from investigations of color already under way in late modern art and criticism. With their supporters, black modernists—among them Peter Bradley, Frederick Eversley, Alvin Loving, Raymond Saunders, and Alma Thomas—rose above the demand to represent or be represented, compromising nothing in their appeals for interracial collaboration and, above all, responding with optimism rather than cynicism to the surrounding culture’s preoccupation with color.
1972 (Exploring Civil Rights)
by Selene CastrovillaLearn about the key events of the civil rights movement in the latest installment of this exciting and informative series.The year 1972 was one of major accomplishments in the civil rights movement. In January, Shirley Chisolm became an inspiration as the first African American to seek the presidential nomination of a major political party. In February, Wilt Chamberlain won the NBA title for the Los Angeles Lakers and was named the Most Valuable Player, securing his place as one of the most talented athletes in the history of sports. The National Black Political Convention was held in March with a crowd of ten thousand African Americans to discuss and advocate for Black communities that were in economic and social crisis across the country. And in November, Andrew Jackson Young Jr., of Georgia, and Barbara Jordan from Texas became the first African Americans in the twentieth century elected to Congress from the Deep South.This detailed account explains why 1972 was such a critical year in the civil rights movement.ABOUT THE SERIES:The years from 1967 to 1978 were critical to the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans struggling to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere and set the stage for even more progress in the coming decades. Discover how this specific time period brought about change and how it still affects us as a society today.With stunning photographs throughout and rich back matter, each book focuses on a specific year and chronologically follows the detailed events that occurred and the changes that took place.
1972 Black Hills Flood, The (Images of America)
by Corey ChristiansonOver 50 years have passed since the Black Hills flood swept through western South Dakota in 1972, leaving tragedy in its wake. This book explores the extent of the damage through images that highlight Rapid City, Keystone, and the surrounding Black Hills. Dignitaries, including Sen. George McGovern, visited the Black Hills in the aftermath; these visitors, along with the actions taken for recovery, make an appearance in the story. Today, the Black Hills are a tourist destination, with Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Custer State Park being the most well-known attractions. /Corey Christianson has spent years researching the 1972 Black Hills flood. She was a part of the 50th commemoration of the flood, for which she, along with a team of talented individuals, created an award-winning exhibit about the flood and the recovery of the Black Hills. The images in this book are from the Rapid City Public Library, US Air Force, Keystone Area Historical Society, and other organizations that strive to remember, honor, and commemorate the flood. /
1972: A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution
by Morgan LlywelynThe story of Ireland from 1950-1972 through the eyes of a young newspaper photographer, son and grandson of Irish revolutionaries.
1972: The Series That Changed Hockey Forever
by Scott MorrisonThe legacy of the greatest hockey series ever played, fifty years later, with stories from the players that shed new light on those incredible games and times.&“Cournoyer has it on that wing. Here&’s a shot. Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here&’s another shot. Right in front...they score! Henderson has scored for Canada!&” These immortal words, spoken to hockey fans around the world by the legendary broadcaster Foster Hewitt, capture the historic final-seconds goal scored by Paul Henderson that won the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Hockey fans know the moment well, but the story of those amazing eight games has never been fully told—until now. The series was the first of its kind, and one of the most dramatic sporting showdowns in history. With the Soviets dominating international hockey, this series was meant to settle the debate, once and for all, of who owned the game. It was Canada&’s best against the Soviets for the first time. And in the shadow of the Cold War, this was about more than eight games of hockey. Expectations were high as the series began. This was supposed to be easy for Team Canada, but after the disappointing first four games on home ice with only one win, victory seemed out of reach. With the final four games in Moscow, Canada got a rare glimpse behind the iron curtain as the team, as well as three thousand raucous fans, arrived in the USSR. Amid the culture shock and strained relations, what followed was a tug-of-war battle that lasted to the dying seconds of game 8. Now, five decades after this historic event, it&’s time to reflect on the greatest hockey series ever played. Veteran journalist and hockey analyst Scott Morrison uses a storyteller&’s voice to reveal what it meant to hockey then, and what it means now. Filled with the memories of the players and others involved with the series, he shows how it changed the game, and challenged a nation&’s sense of identity and place in the world.
1973: Rock At The Crossroads
by Andrew Grant JacksonA fascinating account of the music and epic social change of 1973, a defining year for David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Elvis Presley, and the former members of The Beatles. 1973 was the year rock hit its peak while splintering—just like the rest of the world. Ziggy Stardust travelled to America in David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane. The Dark Side of the Moon began its epic run on the Billboard charts, inspired by the madness of Pink Floyd's founder, while all four former Beatles scored top ten albums, two hitting #1. FM battled AM, and Motown battled Philly on the charts, as the era of protest soul gave way to disco, while DJ Kool Herc gave birth to hip hop in the Bronx. The glam rock of the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper split into glam metal and punk. Hippies and rednecks made peace in Austin thanks to Willie Nelson, while outlaw country, country rock, and Southern rock each pointed toward modern country. The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, and the Band played the largest rock concert to date at Watkins Glen. Led Zep’s Houses of the Holy reflected the rise of funk and reggae. The singer songwriter movement led by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell flourished at the Troubadour and Max’s Kansas City, where Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley shared bill. Elvis Presley’s Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite was NBC’s top-rated special of the year, while Elton John’s albums dominated the number one spot for two and a half months.Just as U.S. involvement in Vietnam drew to a close, Roe v. Wade ignited a new phase in the culture war. While the oil crisis imploded the American dream of endless prosperity, and Watergate’s walls closed in on Nixon, the music of 1973 both reflected a shattered world and brought us together.
1974: A Personal History
by Francine Prose“In this remarkable memoir, the qualities that have long distinguished Francine Prose’s fiction and criticism—uncompromising intelligence, a gratifying aversion to sentiment, the citrus bite of irony—give rigor and, finally, an unexpected poignancy to an emotional, artistic, and political coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s—the decade, as she memorably puts it, when American youth realized that the changes that seemed possible in the ’60s weren’t going to happen. A fascinating and ultimately wrenching book.”—Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six MillionThe first memoir from critically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose, about the close relationship she developed with activist Anthony Russo, one of the men who leaked the Pentagon Papers--and the year when our country changed.During her twenties, Francine Prose lived in San Francisco, where she began an intense and strange relationship with Tony Russo, who had been indicted and tried for working with Daniel Ellsberg to leak the Pentagon papers. The narrative is framed around the nights she spent with Russo driving manically around San Francisco, listening to his stories--and the disturbing and dramatic end of that relationship in New York.What happens to them mirrors the events and preoccupations of that historical moment: the Vietnam war, drugs, women's liberation, the Patty Hearst kidnapping. At once heartfelt and ironic, funny and sad, personal and political, 1974 provides an insightful look at how Francine Prose became a writer and artist during a time when the country, too, was shaping its identity.
1974: I-Migrant Hotel (I Hotel #7)
by Karen Tei Yamashita"I-Migrant" is the seventh novella of I Hotel, a National Book Award finalist and epic of America's struggle for civil rights as it played out in San Francisco's Chinatown. Yamashita's cast of students, laborers, artists, revolutionaries, and provocateurs make their way through the history of the day, caught in riptides of politics and passion, clashing ideologies and personal turmoil.
1975 Red Sox: American League Champions (Images of Baseball)
by Raymond Sinibaldi Fred LynnThe 1975 American League Champion Boston Red Sox squared off with the Cincinnati Reds in what is widely recognized as one of the best World Series ever played. The Major League Baseball Network has named its sixth game "the greatest game ever played." The Red Sox were led by two rookies, 21-year-old Jim Rice and 22-year-old Fred Lynn, who formed a rookie duo the likes of which baseball had never seen. They combined with a budding superstar in Carlton Fisk and his aging counterpart Carl Yastrzemski to lead the Red Sox attack, while a wily Luis Tiant anchored the pitching staff. After a first-round sweep of the three-time World Champion Oakland A's, they advanced to a Fall Classic that echoes through the ages, and in the words of Carlton Fisk, the Red Sox won "three games to four.
1975: The Year the World Forgot
by Dylan JonesThere is a myth that the long, dark days before punk were full of legions of British prog rock groups; that the likes of Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull roamed the land, soiling the culture like university-educated Orcs.Wrong.The mid-seventies were dense with extraordinarily sophisticated, mature rock music made by singers, songwriters and musicians who had no problem calling themselves artists. And the records they made aspired to artistic status: everyone was trying to make their own masterpiece, and the sense of competitiveness was like something not seen since the mid-sixties. Three-minute pop singles had given way to concept albums and pop-package tours had been supplanted by rock festivals, and rock in general had a renewed sense of ambition.1975 was the apotheosis of the adult pop, the most important year in the narrative arc of post-war music, and a year that was rich with masterpieces: Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan, The Who by Numbers by the Who, Young Americans by David Bowie, Another Green World by Brian Eno, The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell and A Night at the Opera by Queen, amongst countless other legendary albums.These records were magisterial; records that couldn't be bettered. Who could realistically make a more sophisticated album than The Hissing of Summer Lawns? Or a more complex hard-rock album than Physical Graffiti? Or indeed a record as unimpeachable and as prescient as Horses?1975, as Dylan Jones expertly illustrates, was the greatest year of them all.
1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era
by David KrellAmericans struggled to find their footing in the late 1970s. The Vietnam War ended with more than fifty-eight thousand American soldiers&’ deaths; the public&’s trust in politicians plummeted amid the Watergate scandal. As deadly blizzards ripped through the Midwest and Northeast in early 1978 and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, Americans turned to baseball for the welcome distraction and promise of a new season. From spring training to the World Series, 1978 gave baseball fans one of the sport&’s greatest seasons, full of legendary moments like the battle between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox for the American League East pennant, Gaylord Perry&’s three thousandth strikeout, Tom Seaver&’s only career no-hitter, Willie McCovey&’s five hundredth home run, and Pete Rose&’s marathon forty-four-game hitting streak. The 1978 season played out against a backdrop of disco music, bell-bottom pants, and gas-guzzling cars, while Hollywood answered a desperate longing for a simpler time with nostalgic offerings such as Grease, The Buddy Holly Story, American Hot Wax, Animal House, and Superman. Robin Williams became a household name with a guest appearance on the popular TV show Happy Days, Atlantic City debuted its first casino, and Jill Clayburgh symbolized the emerging independence of women in An Unmarried Woman. In a memorable end to the baseball season, Reggie Jackson and Bucky Dent led the Yankees to their second consecutive World Series over the Dodgers after losing the first two games, then winning four in a row. With a month-by-month approach, David Krell breaks down major events in both baseball and American culture at large in 1978, chronicling in novelistic detail the notable achievements of some of the greatest players of the era, along with some of the national pastime&’s quirkiest moments, to capture an extraordinary year in baseball.
1978: Exploring Civil Rights (Exploring Civil Rights)
by Nel YomtovLearn about the key events of the civil rights movement in the latest installment of this exciting and informative series.The year 1978 was one of steps toward equality in the civil rights movement. In February, Max Robinson successfully became the first African American broadcast network anchor for ABC news. In June, the Supreme Court case California v. Bakke ruled that affirmative action was legal in the United States and race could be included in the criteria for admissions into colleges and universities. In July, the National Organization of Women coordinated an impressive march of 100,000 demonstrators in Washington, DC, in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. And the world watched as African American boxer, Muhammad Ali, defeated Leon Spinks to win his third heavyweight title in September, becoming the first person to ever to win the title three times.This detailed account explains why 1978 was such a critical year in the civil rights movement.ABOUT THE SERIES:The years from 1967 to 1978 were critical to the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans struggling to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere and set the stage for even more progress in the coming decades. Discover how this specific time period brought about change and how it still affects us as a society today.With stunning photographs throughout and rich back matter, each book focuses on a specific year and chronologically follows the detailed events that occurred and the changes that took place.
1979
by Michael HealeyIt’s December 1979 and Clark’s minority Progressive Conservative government is under threat of dissolution before it has a chance to accomplish anything — even pass a budget. But Clark is young and idealistic, resolute on making his mark in office. When he steals a moment at his desk to make a crucial decision, his colleagues, including Brian Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau, take the opportunity to steer him in different directions.
1979 (The Allie Burns Novels Series #1)
by Val McDermid<p>A Scottish journalist is drawn into a world of corruption, terror, and murder in the new novel by “one of crime fiction’s most eminent writers” (Entertainment Weekly).<p> <p>The year started badly and only got worse—blizzards, strikes, power cuts, and political unrest were the norm. For investigative journalist Allie Burns, however, someone else’s bad news was the unmistakable sound of opportunity knocking, and 1979 is ripe with possibilities.<p> <p>But Allie is a woman in what is still a man’s world. Desperate to get away from the “women's stories” the Glasgow desk keeps assigning her, she strikes up an alliance with wannabe investigative journalist Danny Sullivan. From the start, their stories create enemies. First an international tax fraud, then a potential Scottish terrorist group aiming to cause mayhem ahead of an impending referendum. And then Danny is found murdered in his flat. For Allie, investigative journalism just got personal.<p> <p>The debut of an intense new series, 1979 is an atmospheric journey into the past with intriguing insight into the present, from a Diamond Dagger winner and multiple Edgar Award finalist.<p>
1979 And The Re-Emergence Of The Islamic Empire
by Major Thomas M. HoughIn 1979 the age old struggle for the control of Islam between the Shiite and Sunni sects re-emerged in the Middle East. Four events occurred in 1979 that defined the context of contemporary Middle Eastern politics: the Islamic revolution in Iran, the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accords, the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This monograph directly addresses the roots of current Middle Eastern actors such as HAMAS, FATA, Hezbollah, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban in the aftermath of these four critical events that occurred in 1979.The methodology for this monograph consists of analyzing each of these four events and then synthesizing this information in order to determine how 1979 shaped the modern Middle East. Since the seventeenth century the Sunni sect dominated Islam. The Iranian revolution reenergized the Shiite sect throughout the Middle East while Sunni power simultaneously eroded throughout the region. While the Shiites were inspiring the Islamic community in 1979, the Sunni suffered significant blows to their legitimacy as the leaders of Islam.This monograph asserts that the prevailing conflict within the Middle East is first and foremost a contest between the Shiites and the Sunni for preeminence within the Islamic world. The conflict between Islam and the outside world remains secondary in importance. The contemporary Middle Eastern actors that dominate the western consciousness such as HAMMAS, FATA, Hezbollah, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban constitute proxy armies created by the Shiite and Sunni leadership to wage a war for influence within the Islamic world. The events of 1979 have resulted in a leveling of power in the Middle East and the emergence of the Shiites as an ideological peer competitor to the traditionally dominant Sunni.
1979: The Year That Shaped The Modern Middle East
by David W. LeschThe Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the continuing US-Iraqi confrontation, the changing political dynamics in Iran, recent Pakistani-Indian hostilities and Osama bin Laden-all of these have one important common denominator: Significant strands of their origins can be traced to the tumultuous year of 1979. This text offers a new paradigm for stud