Reviews

May Made Me: An Oral History of the 1968 Uprising in France by Mitchell Abidor

scottpnh10's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

tellor22's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

paulataua's review against another edition

4.0

Fascinating oral history of the events of May 68 in Paris that really gets lots of things right, especially how the workers movements and student movements seemed to be two completely different forces with different goals, the workers with their quantitative demands and the students and others with less definable objectives. The book makes the claim that this never really added up to a revolutionary movement, but stops short of actually making sense of what it was. It suggests the ‘failure’ of May 68 by pointing out how all the major social changes that followed, such as women’s rights and the acceptance of homosexuality, came about in other countries without undergoing events like those in France, but it possibly underplays the effect that those events had on the people involved in them and how they had an effect on later developments, both personal and societal. I feel convinced that the events had a much more important effect, and maybe , just maybe, the events played a major role in helping to bring about this age where we are less ready to believe in 'truths' that are thrust upon us as unassailable and in a world that is unchangeable. A good read!

spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition

2.0

Incontestablement je suis, comme d'habitude, résolument investi dans des livres traitant de ce sujet. La majorité de ces entretiens ont été réalisés en français, puis traduits en anglais. L'auteur a déclaré que cette décision avait été prise afin que les personnes interrogées puissent s'exprimer plus librement.

En parlant de l'auteur, Mitchell Abidor est le principal traducteur français des archives internet des marxistes et celui qui est responsable de plus de 1 000 traductions du français, de l'espagnol, de l'italien, du portugais et de l'espéranto, ainsi que d'une poignée de transcriptions d'articles en anglais. Bien qu'il soit américain, j'avais l'impression qu'il avait fait un travail décent pour comprendre le point de vue français sur ces événements, alors même que ses tendances politiques aient influencé les questions qu'il a posées et les conclusions auxquelles il est arrivé.