Headlines from

Hamilton
“Despite its slick promotion and the miracles of sound technology and stagecraft which made it possible, much of the original Woodstock’s appeal lay in the illusion it offered of a retreat to simpler values and simpler times, a return to the land and the sturdy agrarian virtues embodied in Max Yasgur and his peaceful cows. And it seemed to work. The old values triumphed in the face of impending disaster. What values, beyond those recorded on an accountant’s spread-sheet, will Woodstock ‘99 represent?”
Maurice Isserman, Ph.D., professor of history, Hamilton College
Background:
This summer marks the 30th anniversary of Woodstock, the music festival that defined the counter-cultural spirit of the ’60s. This year’s festival will take place in Rome, New York, just 15 miles from Hamilton College, home to William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History Maurice Isserman, an expert on 20th-century U.S. history who is widely acknowledged to be one of the preeminent historians of the ‘60s. Isserman, a former Fulbright grant-winner, is currently co-authoring a history of that tumultuous decade entitled America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press this fall. An expert on reform and radical movements, Isserman has written articles and book reviews for The Nation, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He also attended the original Woodstock in the summer of 1969.
Maurice Isserman e-mail: misserma@hamilton.edu
Media Contact: Sharon Rippey phone: 315-859-4691 e-mail: srippey@hamilton.edu
Return to: History Department * Maurice Isserman * www.hamilton.edu